ROTG X Atlantis: The Lost Empire
by fellowbeliever
Summary: Cartographer and linguist Toothiana Thatch joins various other people (from multiple animated universes) to find the lost city of Atlantis. This city is run by the dying emporer and looked after by his son and daughter, Jack and Emma. Will the two societies be able to meet or will they be seperated forever?
1. Chapter 1

**Inspired by emiismadeofart tumblr drawings of Jack and Tooth. Yes that is her art on the cover and it was wonderful that she let me use it for my cover. It is hers, I don't own the art. **

**I really hope you like it. And this is literally the first eight minutes of the movie so there will be plenty more where this came from. Also, I'm changing around some stuff for the plotline because I feel like if I stick to much to it, it will get boring cause you'll probably already know the plotline of the movie. **

**And finally there is crossover between a lot of animated movies. Some with How to Train Your Dragon because I actually had ideas for them but I'll make sure to include other characters from other animated movies too. **

**As always, leaving comments, favorting, liking, following, just reading, it is all appreciated thank you**

* * *

Chapter 1- Introduction

One clear day over the ocean, the waves were rising and falling as they always had. The seagulls were lazily moving around in search for the fish they knew would come to the surface, and on their backs was a remnant breeze of a distant shore. The hot air mixed with the coolness of the sparkling sea-foam and the seagulls drifted down in the sunlight towards the water. The air was tinged with a distant taste of mechanics, of smoke and people, but as the seagulls flapped down and sat on the waves, they didn't mind it. They couldn't because their midday meals were swimming towards them. The fish swam up because of the plankton driving towards the sunlight and a gull idly stooped its beak down and caught one in its mouth. It swallowed and called to the others. This was a good place; they would come here more once the fish had begun to move towards their mating ground. Then,

SHHOOOOOOMMMMMM

Then a shot of light rocketed from the edges of their vision. Startled by the blast, they flew as fast as possible towards the nearest body of land before a gigantic explosion manifested itself in the distance. As the shockwave obliterated the clouds in front of it, an army of mechanical fish cut through the air as fast as possible. A massive 40 story high wave followed them. The drum of their engines quickened to the fastest pace, giving off the sound of millions of bees, but it was still not enough.

"_Il Pounk! Il shi le lebe de man chaw! (You fool! You have destroyed us all!)"_ A shout from a one man vehicle called out to his fellow. The armada of fish like ships zoomed over the water, all engines revving at highest gear. The mechanical bodies swayed in the air, trying to absorb and export as much atmosphere as possible for fuel. The man continued to berate the other in the strange language but the words were lost in the drone of the engines and in the tidal disaster heading their way.

"_The wave is gaining! We have to warn Atlantis!"_

The other screamed as hard as his lungs would let him.

"_We're too late! AHHHHHHHHH!" _

The rest of his scream and the others' were lost to the crushing water. A plethora of the ships that had moved out ahead of the blast maneuvered and angled their machines through the rolling pastures to move faster. They had 5 minutes. The younger ones in the outlying towns cheered at their arrival for they did not know what was coming. The elders beckoned them to get inside the huts. They had seen times of war before. They knew if the scouts were moving this fast there was bad news.

There was indeed.

4 minutes.

They shot out of the green fields and over the hills to see their civilization. It was beautifully constructed, a network of flying and changing, where new inventions came forth every day for improving all civilizations when this dreadful war expired. There were many rings to the city's infrastructure and crowning it was the palace of the king and queen. The machines raced towards the heart of the city, above the various markets and nobles that lived nearer to the citadel, to see that the floating mass above the Emperor's palace had turned red. Its lights were searching all around the palace in a frenzy because it knew something was wrong before the news even reached the capital, and it was right.

3 minutes.

The warriors brought the shadow of the wave with them as it crashed down on the outer pastures on the outskirts of the city. The soldiers could not stop to warn anyone but the king, queen, and their two small children. A palace guard looked at the flying ships as they used the aerodynamics of the fish structure to the best of their ability and rocketed past him. The guard didn't see anything immediately wrong… until he turned to see the massive wave flying towards the city almost as fast as the ships were. The sky had turned dark due to the mass of the explosion and only added to the terror of the guard's heart. He flung himself around to the announcing system, taking in the last few seconds he saw the wave and his voice rung out throughout the entire city, or to the parts that weren't destroyed yet.

"_Everyone to the shelters! Everyone to the shelters!"_ He shouted in Atlantean. It was his job to stay calm in tough situations, but this time he couldn't leave out the urgency of the catastrophe headed their way. The people in the palace who had not seen the wave yet panicked as the guards on the opposite side of the announcer hit the warning bells with all their strength. The gongs rung throughout the palace as one of the ships meant to warn them crashed due to a failing motor. A guard hopped around the broken ship and ran towards the royal family, a couple and a little boy, who seemed to be about four or five. There was chaos everywhere as the people rushed to the asylum underneath the palace. The interlocking screams grew louder.

2 minutes.

"_This way your Highnesses! Quickly!" _

The king ran to the guard apprehensively.

"_Where is my daughter!?" _

Another guard came running up.

"_I just gave her to the caretaker in the shelter sir!"_

The king ran towards the shelter.

"_Jakuto`pe masi`k! (Jack, come on!)"_

1 minute.

His mother grabbed the little boy who was looking in the wrong direction. His crystalline white locks that reflected all the Atlantean people's hair fell into his eyes and he cried out. He had dropped his favorite toy on the ground when his mother had grabbed his wrist, and he was dragging his feet so he could get it back. She swung him around to her face as people ran and flailed past and the red lights gathered all around them. She stroked his hair and shoulder to offer him what little comfort she could as a mother. The young boy's large blue eyes settled on her panicked face, distracted for a second from the shrieks and shouts. He wanted to touch the blue tattoos by her eyebrows like he always did to calm down, but she held his slim hands in her large ones, holding him back.

"_Jakuto`pe tode sen coupé! Na te wa né te kim! (Jack, just leave it! There's no time!)" _

Suddenly, a light from the mass found his mother and turned from red to blue as she looked up at it. Suddenly her kind eyes disappeared, glowing blue as her crystal necklace rose up to her face. Suddenly, it wasn't Jack's mother anymore.

The points of light converged on his mother's necklace and her hair flew in all directions, ripped out of its tightly kept bun. The royal blue clothes she had picked out earlier that day started to spin around her in torrents of wind, and to Jack's horror, the lights started to take her away.

Whether it was what was left of her conscience or an accident Jack did not know, but as the lights started to raise her up into the clouds, she held on to Jack's golden bracelet which had slipped off his thin wrist and into hers for one last time.

He tried to get her back but he couldn't move fast enough.

"_Ma`tim! (Mother!)_" He cried out as he tripped on his little feet. His high-pitched voice didn't bring her back, neither did his hands that were reaching for her, she just kept rising. He started to cry and he couldn't get up from the cold pavement he had played on a few hours earlier with his sister. He could only keep calling for his mother.

"_Ma`tim!" _

30 seconds.

The great iron statues that were controlled by the light as the world of the Atlantans turned dark spread their metal arms, and created an indestructible force field for the inner networking of the city. An indestructible force field to keep all things protected inside it. An indestructible force field that kept all things out.

The people who were nearest got in as quickly as possible but as the great energy field closed, so did the other's chance to escape. A couple of people tried to break open the shield in a futile effort but it was no use. The shield closed itself forever. They could do nothing but scream as the immense wall of water came crashing down on them all.

0 seconds.

Jack kept calling for his mother.

"_Ma`tim!" _

Jack's father rushed to his son's side and enclosed the boy in his robes, so he would be spared of seeing his city and his mother obliberated.

"_Mol co ten su mol ten Jakuto`pe! (Close your eyes Jack! Look away!)"_

Jack's father could not say the same for himself. He looked until the last seconds his wife was alive as Jack buried his face behind his father's arms.

The vast force field converged at all points to the glowing mass, now a spiraling ball of energy. It sealed itself in a flash of light as the ocean enclosed around the capital and dragged it down to the bottom of the sea.

All that was left of the once thriving civilization, was one little journal that a shepherd buried in his garden.

* * *

_Washington D.C., 1914, Ten thousand years later_

"Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen! It is my honor in giving this presentation to you today and I hope you are comfortable. To start us off I would like to thank the board for taking their time to hear my proposal. Now, let's go back in Greek times and I will bring you a quote from good ol' Aristotle, or was it Plato? Wait a minute... uh…" She looked up with bright green-brown eyes.

"Wait a minute folks! This will only take a second I swear!"

A girl in a light sleeveless turtleneck and dark brown long-sleeved vest flitted around the crowded room excitedly looking for a scrap of paper she knew she put _somewhere_. In the process she knocked over various artifacts and scattered papers she had stacked in the small, cluttered room, and cluttered was an understatement. She lifted books up and put them back down and searched high and low in her flowy knee-length auburn skirt. Her golden brown arms moved from book to book but she couldn't find what she was searching for. She shrugged and moved her hands in her skirt pockets, trying to think where she put the quote. As she was looking absently at the wall she felt a little scrap of paper by her left hand and fiddled around with it in her fingers until she gasped. She almost propelled the scrap out of her pocket and examined it.

"I got it!" She waved it happily and proceeded to read it. "…in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea. Plato, 360 B.C. Aw shoot it was Plato. Well folks it was Plato! Not Aristotle! You learn something new every day!" There were no comments as she scrambled back to the podium and continued on with her speech.

"Now Atlantis, as Plato said, was an island, but more likely a continent, somewhere in the mid Atlantic that was home to an advanced civilization that possessed technology far beyond our own. As Mr. Plato alluded to here," she tapped a statue of his head with a meter stick she had picked up from the side of her mobile blackboard. As she talked to "him" she tried to sound like she knew him personally for many years. "Atlantis was struck down by some, some cataclysmic event that sank it beneath the sea. Now some of you may ask…" she continued, pulling up some slide cards she created last week. "Why Atlantis? It's just a myth, isn't it? Pure fantasy. Well," she said moving out her hand to the audience as if to stop them from making any comments.

"That is where'd you be wrong. Thousands of years before the Egyptians built the pyramids; Atlantis had electricity, advanced medicine, even the power of flight!"

She moved her slim fingers rapidly and flipped each card down as she gave her examples. Each slide's picture was a different map or photo she had taken over the past three months and she hoped her message was getting across. She continued with confidence as she brought her face closer to the photo Atlantans in flight. It wasn't an actual picture but a carving that people made in greece.

"Impossible you say! Well no, no, not for them."

She smiled as her dark brown hair fell out of its place and moved towards her eyes. She brushed it back before continuing her speech in a characteristic motion of hers and got more excited as she went on.

"All of the civilizations of the world _agree_ that Atlantis possessed a power source of some kind more powerful than steam, than coal! More powerful than our modern internal combustion engines! Gentlemen, Ladies, I propose that we find Atlantis, find that power source and bring it back to the surface!" She grasped the air as if she could have the "power source" in her hand already. She went to flip to a page from a book in her slides.

"This illuminated text goes on to describe a book called the Shepherd's Journal, said to contain a firsthand account of Atlantis and its exact whereabouts.

"Now, based on a centuries old translation of a Norse text…"

She wedged herself out of the tiny space between her podium stand and her mobile chalkboard by sucking in her stomach and shuffling to the open space. There were letters in a different language at the top of the board and an English translation underneath it. It said "Coast of Ireland" and indicated where the Shepherd's Journal was.

"…historians believe that the journal resides in Ireland, pshh."

She rolled her eyes because it was ridiculous to her and bent down to pick up the object at her right and the audience's left. Their silhouettes remained unmoving as she struggled to lift up the very heavy shield.

"After comparing it with some, ugh, texts, which I have translated on this Viking shield, I found one of the letters to be mistranslated. So by changing this letter, we see that the Shepherd's Journal, the key heh to Atlantis, does not reside in Ireland but in Iceland!" She used her sleeve to wipe away the "r" and changed it into a neat "c".

"Pause for effect." She spoke to herself and grinned, looking around the room.

After she let down the shield she spoke louder and as if she had just proposed a method to solving the mathematics of the universe.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, I'll take your questions now."

_Rrriinng rrriinnng._

Her shoulders shot up and her confident demeanor vanished.

"Oh-oh w-would you excuse me for a moment?" Not finding a way to go around the small podium and blackboard before the phone stopped ringing she used the blackboard's ability to flip-up and down. A creak sounded from the old knobs as she jumped on it and used it as a lever, thudding on her desk. She grabbed the earpiece and microphone of the old intercom system and spoke with an air importance.

"Cartography and linguistics, Toothiana Thatch speaking."

A muffled voice of a very angry woman came through the line. Toothiana's air of importance faded into an air of annoyance.

"Yeah, ye-yeah just a second." The voice continued to speak as if it hadn't heard her. She pouted and slid off the blackboard to the floor and walked over to the other side of the room to turn on the light revealing her "audience" as just artifacts from the museum she worked at. The boss said that she could put them on display if the museum people got bored with the exhibits, but seeing as how that would never happen and Toothiana needed to practice, she felt she wasn't insane to make a mini-rendition for herself.

She walked to the back where a glow was given off by the boiler.

"Pardon me, pardon me, Mr. Hickenbottom." She picked up a tiki-mask with a hat she had put on it and smiled ruefully. She turned to the boiler and took a deep sigh. Then in an expert movement twisted each of the many knobs to a different angle and when the boiler let out a noise like it was going to burst a pipe, she picked up the wrench at the side and swung it in the smaller pipeline's direction, hitting it in full force. The boiler shut up and she went back to the main room to talk to the angry annoyance on the phone.

"H-how's that? Is that better for ya?"

The woman on the phone continued to complain loudly and Tooth rolled her eyes, quite irritated. Was anything she did ever did good enough for these people?

"Yeah, yeah you're welcome." Tooth hung up and picked up her spirits by going on with her presentation. She slid off the blackboard again to find the chalk map she had drawn imprinted on her dark vest and wiped away on the chalkboard.

"Uhm, as you can see by this uh," she glanced at the chalkboard back to the map on her chest and to the chalkboard again. "This map," She smiled apologetically as she moved herself to fit the place of the map that had rubbed off. She walked two fingers across the dotted line to the X on her vest. "This map that I've drawn shows the course that will take me and my crew to Iceland to retrieve the Journal."

_Cuckoo Cuckoo Cuckoo. _The Cuckoo bird came out of the clock 4 times. Just enough to get to the board room and set up before 4:30.

"Ah hah yeah, showtime!" She dusted off the chalk with enthusiasm and grabbed her papers and presentation material in her arms.

"Well, this is it! Finally getting out of the dungeon!"

She moved to the little shrine she had made just before the stairs to her deceased father and mother. Putting down her supplies on the cherry stained wood for a second she bit her bottom lip. There was an old photo of her dad wearing an old explorer's hat and her sitting on his lap in his favorite chair. Tooth tenderly handled the black frame and smiled deeply eyes watering at the memory. It played like a film reel behind her eyes. Tooth remembered that day the man came to their house to take the picture. Originally the photo was only supposed to be of her father, commemorating his recent achievement in science. Tooth was just dressing up with her mother but rushed downstairs because, of course, she wanted to be "grown up" and in the picture too. Tapping her father's tan skin repeatedly earned her a laugh and Haroom picked her up and sat her on his lap.

Tooth would have otherwise stood for the picture but she really wanted to get the explorer's hat on top of his head, which had a golden feather stuffed in the band. The golden feather caught the light and almost sparkled as Haroom's big hands gave her the hat. She reached for it excitedly and her father laughed. Tooth loved it when her father laughed. He always made his thick moustache bristle and her mother always smiled when she saw it. His eyes brimmed with love as he put the feathered hat on top of Tooth's head and she jumped up and down excitedly. The hat was built for a man and didn't fit her head at all. She would have been too small for a women's hat too but Haroom's hat was just extra-large. The cap slid down her face and her father laughed as her mouth twisted up in question.

She put the picture aside, gently rubbing her eyes with her other hand and then slid the small doors to the little memorial she had created for her father. It had the same hat in it with various scented candles. She took a whiff of the sweet pine scent and smiled as she looked at the hat. Tooth had taken the feather from the brim years ago when her father died and strung it to the same jewelry her mother had worn. Ever since she made that necklace at 13, she'd never taken it off. The weight of the pouch at the base of her neck was her own little flair. It held her first baby teeth. She always felt nostalgic when she looked at it. Her eyes flitted to the cap and just for old time's sake she took it and put it on her head.

It was still too big and slid down her face the same way it did years ago. She giggled, a little happy that at least one thing hadn't changed. She heard a message come from the tiki-headed mailing system. If people wanted to drop messages down to the boiler room, they just had to send their mail down the chute. She read the mail out loud to herself as was her custom, and shifted her father's hat off her head and to the cherry-oak counter.

"Dear Ms. Thatch, this is to inform you that your meeting has been moved up from 4:30 PM to 3:30 PM." Tooth's mouth dropped open and she looked at the clock. "Oh no." She thought. This was ridiculous, it was already 4:05!?

"What!?" Her voice rose up and she looked around frantically. Another letter came through the mailing system.

"Dear Ms. Thatch, due to your absence the board has decided to reject your proposal. Have a nice weekend? Mr. Harcord's office?! THEY CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" She shouted. This was it! This was the second time they had done this! Mr. Harcord _was_ one of this museum's board members, the most influential one, and the museum boss!

"You could have notified me of the change in time earlier thank you very much! UGH! No matter, I'm sure you business tycoons are still in this building and if you are, I'll find you."

She quickly set up her memorial so it was exactly the same way it was before.

"Love you mom, dad. Your daughter is going to go kick some butt." She blew kisses in "their" directions. Then Tooth gathered her skirts and ran up the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her with all her presentation supplies.

* * *

"I swear, that young girl gets crazier and crazier every year!" A group of wealthy business men came out of Mr. Harcord's office, Mr. Mulligan being the one who thought Toothiana was crazy. They all had the air of being rich and not the I'm-good-it-doesn't-matter-who-you-are-rich, it was the I'm-superior-to-you-cuz-you-got-nothin-rich. Mr. Faton, another member of the board, shifted his fur coat and adjusted his expensive rings as the others had done and spoke up snobbishly.

"If I ever have to hear the word 'Atlantis' again I'll step in front of a bus!"

Mr. Mulligan laughed. "Ahahaha I'll push you!" He exclaimed jokingly. The shortest board member, Mr. Harcord, held out his umbrella to the end of the hallway in fright and exclaimed,

"Good lord! There she is!"

Mr. Faton started running first, quickly followed by the other board members. "How did you find us?!" Mr. Harcord hissed.

Tooth kept running up the hallway with all of her maps and effects. She heard Mr. Harcord and all she wanted to say was "I followed the stench of liars and idiots." But considering she needed them to like her proposal she could do nothing but try to get them to listen, however futile that may be. All of the board members fled like ants under a spotlight and fled into the doors in the hallway. They all locked out Mr. Harcord, knowing that Tooth mainly wanted to talk to him. He knocked frantically and when nobody answered, scrambled for the nearest shelter.

"Mr. Harcord! Mr. Harcord! Please listen!" Tooth pleaded. Mr. Harcord (unsuccessfully) hid behind a small plant at the end of the hall. Tooth's eyes narrowed. Seriously? But she came towards him anyway.

"Mr. Harcord? I need you to listen to this proposal!" She moved her umbrella to shift down the leaves that were hiding Mr. Harcord. He smiled evilly and then shoved an open umbrella in her face. Tooth backed away just in time to not be hit, but she was extremely startled, so Mr. Harcord ran to the front of the museum as fast as his short legs could carry him.

"Mr. Harcord! Mr. Harcord please wait! I-I can't lose this proposal!"

She chased him down the hallways and steps of the museum and out to the front where his cab was waiting.

"Mr. Harcord stop!"

She almost flung herself into the window, but used her free hand to get herself on her feet after Mr. Harcord jumped through the cab door. Tooth had dropped stuff along the way but got as much in the coach car window as she could. She unrolled a map and was extremely angry but extremely desperate at the same time.

"Please look at this!"

Mr. Harcord grumbled and shoved her papers back into her arms.

"This museum is for science expedition and exploration based solidly on FACT! Not legends and folklore!"

Then he pinched her cheek almost ripping the skin off her face.

"Besides we need you here, we depend on you."

"What, really?" Tooth, despite herself, hoped a little that he meant it. It would mean a lot if they could at least look at something she did as worth looking at.

"Yes," Mr. Harcord continued. "What with winter coming that boiler's going to need a lot of attention." He sat back promptly in his seat as Tooth realized what he just said.

"The-the boiler? Are you kidding me?"

"Onward Heinz!" He beckoned to his driver. The car took off but so did Tooth. She held up her map and tried to speak as she kept along the vehicle. She was desperate now. She needed that proposal no matter what or it was boiler- lady (a title a snot nosed kid gave her last year) for the rest of her life. She needed it to uphold her family name and herself, because she had always believed in things invisible since she was a little kid. More than anything, that needed to be proved. The scroll fluttered out to the map of Iceland. She pointed to the solid red X that she drew on the continent.

"Please sir! The Journal! It's in Iceland! I'm sure of it this time!" Okay, so there was _one_ other time when she didn't get a proposal right and she messed up an artifact location of Atlantis, but they only paid her for her flight over there! She had to make up the next three months of research and cash on her own, but that didn't mean Mr. Harcord had to close the curtain on her both literally and figuratively.

Tooth glared at the black curtained window and rushed to the front door. There were no windows or curtains there. She hopped on the footing on underneath the door and took out a piece of paper from the side pocket in her vest. She shoved it into the car door and waved it around, hoping Mr. Harcord would get the message.

"This is a letter of resignation Mr. Harcord! If you don't accept my proposal, woooaaahhh!" The car shook and she lost her footing, falling to the ground and spraining her ankle. She continued though, absolutely determined to get him to hear her.

"If you don't accept my proposal, I'LL QUIT!" She shouted after the cab. To her surprise it stopped and reversed. Thinking she had the upper hand, she got up despite her ankle and still angrily waved the resignation letter in Mr. Harcord's face. He had opened the curtains so it was the least she could do to try.

"I-I mean it sir!"

Tooth couldn't believe she was saying this; she had worked at her job for so long. Too long. She was short of breath but still tried to sound strong.

"If you refuse to fund my proposal—"

"You'll what?" Mr. Harcord cut her off. "Flush your career down the toilet just like your father and mother?"

Tooth bit the inside of her lip and looked down. Mr. Harcord's face softened, if only for a fraction of a second.

"You have a lot of potential Toothiana. Don't throw it all away chasing fairy tales."

Tooth was about to cry but she held it in. She wouldn't give up. She would never give up.

"But I can _prove_ Atlantis exists."

"You want to go on an expedition?" He pulled a coin out of his pocket and threw it at Tooth's feet.

"Take a trolley to the river and _jump in!_ Maybe it'll clear your head! Heinz!"

And then he shut the curtains again and the cab splashed water all over Tooth as it chugged on.

"I'll show all of you someday." Tooth sighed. Her resignation letter was completley soaked and so were her clothes. And then it started to rain. Wonderful.

"Well everything happens for a reason right?" She said as she turned the key to her apartment, drenched. She walked into the dark hallway.

"I'm home. Fluffy?" She shut the door with her foot and her socks squished with all the rainwater that had collected in them_._ She cringed.

"Here kitty." She tried to get the light to work but no matter how many times she clicked it, it wouldn't turn on. Then, a burst of lightning silhouetted a figure at the window. It was a woman.

She was thin with little curves here and there and her hair was in a braid going all the way down her back. She was wearing a black dress that looked more expensive to Tooth than her whole apartment and she had a necklace of dark black spikes. Whoever she was, she meant business. Her piercing blue eyes looked Tooth over.

"Ms. Toothiana Thatch?"

"What the- what? Who are you? How did you get in here?!"

Tooth had started to shake in her clothes. Whether it was from the cold or from fright or both it was unclear, but whatever the feeling was it was unpleasant.

"I broke through your screen with my axe that I keep behind the folds of this dress. Suprise~."

Tooth looked shocked and then worried. She was going to run out of her door but the woman gave her a look that said "really?" and moved on with her statement.

"My name is Astrid Sinclair and I'm speaking on behalf on my employer who has a most, intriguing proposition for you. Are you interested?"

"Your employer? W-Who is your employer? And what is this proposition?"

Astrid only smiled.

* * *

**Alright I have all of the characters set and ready to go!**

**Also, I am changing the storyline a bit! So bad characters might not be all bad, or they might be bad but it could change in the end. And don't worry. Jack's gonna get a lot more "screen time" so to speak than in the actual movie. You will have your Jack. And Emma. I got cha x) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Crying rainbowsnowcone at this point (for prospective plans). Idk if you'll like this chapter but I really hope you enjoy it! **

* * *

Chapter 2 – The "most intriguing proposition"

Somehow, Astrid Sinclair managed to get Toothiana calmed down enough to get her in the car without many shenanigans. A little question here or there from Tooth, but not much else. Tooth timidly climbed in the passenger side and Astrid hopped in the driver's seat.

"Where are we going? Uh- Ms. Sinclair? Where - wah!"

The cab jarred itself into motion as Astrid stepped on the gas pedal and adjusted the stick shift. She didn't answer any questions. Through the jarring and swaying Tooth grabbed the nearest stable object, which happened to be the expensive gilded door.

Once the car leveled out on the wet road Tooth relaxed and took in the luxurious surroundings.

"Even the seats are expensive." She mumbled. This whole car was probably equivalent to the mortgage pay of her old house and she tried her best not to squirm in her seat for fear of ripping the comfortable lining of the cushions. She had changed into some worn out pants that reached her shins and put on long socks that reached up to her knees. She had offered Miss Sinclair tea while they were still in the apartment but it was refused. Whoever this chick was, she meant business.

The pouring rain outside the window gave way to gigantic cracks of thunder and Tooth shuddered in her seat. This was exactly the way it was before her parents died. She used to like the rain. She would look out of the windowsill as Haroom told her stories of Atlantis and of the dead languages it held. Her mom, Rashmi, came in with a candle to listen and the dim light enchanted Tooth. As it flickered and cascaded off the walls in the summer heat, Tooth would like to think Haroom's voice echoed off each raindrop. Along with the tales of Atlantis, her father used to talk of his friend, a hunter, who looked like a monkey (Tooth always laughed at this comment). Both of the friends respected each other but Haroom said he never looked at when his friend killed those poor beasts. But then, Haroom met Rashmi on one of those trips. She was hunting as well and Haroom would talk about how beautiful and wonderful she was. And how his life was complete with her and Tooth.

"What about Atlantis?" Tooth would ask.

"Oh, Atlantis is only a little piece of the puzzle my dear. Let's say, the last piece. You two make up the rest."

"What about me?"

"Hmm?"

"Will I find someone like you daddy?"

"I'm sure you will dear. It's only a matter of where and when."

Then he lightly tapped her nose with his fingers and she laughed.

Those were some of her favorite times. Then came that dreadful night. Her mother and father had taken a stroll through the park that evening and Tooth was left to play with her aging nanny. She had just lost the last two of her baby teeth and she couldn't help staring at them for so long that she kept it in her pocket rather than giving it to her nanny. Tooth was mildly concerned that it was raining very hard outside and how soaked her parents would be, but as children often do, Tooth remained occupied with her games and didn't think twice about what was happening. The wooden chess board's shadows echoed onto the floor as Tooth made her move.

"Checkmate!" She squeaked, excited.

Her nanny smiled wholeheartedly.

"Ooo, you got me! Come here you little rascal!"

She grabbed Tooth underneath her arms and started tickling her. Tooth laughed and tried to get away but she was enjoying the attention. That is, until the door burst open.

A police officer, drenched and silhouetted by lightning, started shouting that someone's parents had been shot by a revengeful man. Tooth was clever enough at the time to realize whose parents that was.

It was her parents.

She didn't cry. She couldn't. She just sat there shocked as her nanny placed her on the chair and got dressed. She ordered the cook downstairs to look after the child and ran off with the police officer.

Tooth was never so scared in her life and couldn't move an inch.

What seemed like days later, but was truly only an hour, they came back with a note and something inside. These were the only two things left of her parents. They were gone.

The note was the will they had written long ago, and it held her old baby teeth. Tooth looked over the note and read it again and again as she let tears slip from her eyes. It said to place the teeth underneath her pillow and remember the old times when those baby teeth came out, for they would give her comforting memories. But one tooth was not her own. Her father had written in his script that it was a piece of "proof" of Atlantis. She considered the tooth her own, and placed it with the others, but not before scratching a bit of it off, leaving a tip broken so she could identify it later. Then Tooth shakily went upstairs for the last time, for the nanny and the other servants of the house urged they move elsewhere immediately, and constructed a pouch made of leather. Almost in a trance , Tooth painted the pouch red, Haroom's favorite color, and painted gold feathers on it, her mother's favorite thing. As she sewed the pouch together tightly and placed each baby tooth in it one by one, she swore revenge on her new bitter enemy, her mortal enemy, Haroom's old friend. She knew it was him. The cop had given a description and a picture a witness had supplied and Tooth would not rest well at night until she found him.

After that, Tooth and the servants of the household moved to Washington, where Tooth was to grow up. Tooth was seventeen when her nanny died. She got a job at the museum for money that she needed for her apartment. Her father visited that museum often and she worked there ever since, letting each of her servants go until she was completely alone.

Astrid took one hand off the wheel for a second and shook Tooth's shoulder. Tooth had been twiddling the pouch at the base of her neck feebly and was staring off into the distance, spacing out.

"Hey, we're here."

Tooth came out of her memories and shoved the pouch in her turtleneck where it was lay close to her chest, unseen. Then she looked up out of the car and her mouth fell open in shock. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing correctly.

She was.

There was a gigantic letter "J" on the gilded iron gate that led to the most amazing mansion Tooth had ever seen. There were forests behind it, in front of it, with massive amounts of land going in all directions. The whole mansion had to be the size of the Whitehouse, and there were even stone lions guarding the front entrance. Something to the left caught Tooth's eye and she looked over. JINNI was engraved on the white bricks.

"Who- who is this person?" She tried.

"Quite a fortunate millionaire." Astrid grinned at Tooth's awe and let the car come to a complete stop at the end of an extraordinarily long driveway.

When Tooth walked through the door she gasped and looked around. How the heck was the mansion bigger on the inside than it was on the outside? The room was enormous, containing various paintings that she didn't have time to look at. The whole place was doused in the light of the orange fire by the hall and lights hanging from the ceiling. Tooth looked to her left with her brown-green eyes and saw, to her amazement, an aged suit of armor. It had actual sweat stains on it and must have been preserved for quite an expensive amount. That thing was worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Tooth couldn't help herself and she almost reached out to touch it.

Then she heard Astrid's voice.

"This way please. Don't drip on the Caravaggio." Astrid was gesturing to the paintings near the armor. She had taken off her coat and hat, showing powerful muscles that rippled underneath her skin. She was lean, but built and her piercing blue eyes told Tooth that she was not someone to mess with. Tooth took a second to look back at the suit of armor and then followed the woman to an elevator at the end of the lobby. Trying to take everything in at once, Tooth twirled around the room and was slow to move into the fancy elevator.

"Step lively. does not like to be kept waiting. Oh, and readjust your hair." Tooth quickly moved her extremely long hair out of its bun and combed her fingers in her hair. Then she put it back into another bun, this time leaving it less messy. Tooth felt the machine go down and a little light lit up on the top of the elevator. It was strong and illuminated them both, showing Tooth four or five buttons that lead to different levels.

Astrid flicked her braided hair behind her as she adjusted Tooth's long dark vest and turtleneck, trying to make her look presentable. Then she went on to tell Tooth what to do.

"You will address him as Mr. Genie or sir. You will stand unless asked to be seated. Keep your sentences short and to the point, are we clear?" Tooth gulped, unable to answer.

The elevator reached its destination and stopped. Astrid lightly pushed Toothiana out of the door into a gigantic hall and Tooth looked around, astonished at the beautiful palace like room. There was a large table right in front of her and there were bookcases up to the massive concave ceiling on her left. The rain and thunder had long ago been drowned out but it did nothing to calm Tooth's increasing tendency to look for a shadow that might jump out at her. On Tooth's right was a large fish tank that reached the ceiling but she couldn't make out the fish that swam in it. A crazy looking chandelier hung from the marble and there were strange artifacts and pictures everywhere. This room, like the last, was lit but dimly and let off a little more comforting vibe, perfect for a private study.

"And relax." Tooth jumped a little when Astrid spoke up because she had forgotten there was someone there. She looked back at Astrid, who was closing the doors.

"Mr. Genie doesn't bite. Often." She let out a little smirk and pressed the button to another floor. Taking one step, and then another, Tooth moved herself around the room glancing at each object as she passed. She heard the elevator leave.

_Well, no turning back now I guess. _

She gazed at the array of artifacts. Some were suits of armor like the one she saw upstairs, and others were completely bizarre, like a human skeleton with an enlarged bird skeleton model for the head and the shrunken heads by the side. Tooth didn't look too long at those. Her eyes moved to the books. Even they had artifacts and marble sculptures stuffed in them. She kept moving around and looking but saw no one. Just more relics and stacks upon stacks of paper.

Was no one here?

The tank's blue glow filled the place where Tooth was standing. Weird fish moved around and around the tank, almost in a little dance. Resigning herself to not look at anything too long, Tooth moved her head to a less well-lit part of the room. Her eyes widened.

"Dad?"

There was a large painting of him over the fireplace. He was in a green suit, shaking a man's hand. The other man in the picture had an Arabian robe on with - wait. Did his skin look blue or was that just the light? His face was long and he had a little beard on his chin that curled at the end. His belly was larger than most people Tooth had seen before and he was a lot taller than her father. His pressed and expensive set of clothes gave him impressions of a stuffy person, but he was smiling widely, eyes full of kindness and shaking Haroom's hand with vigor.

"Finest explorer I ever met."

"Ahh!" Tooth ran behind a particularly large stack of papers and peeked out at the man who had spoken. He was the same man shaking her father's hands in the painting and he was wearing a blue robe.

Tooth's first response upon looking at him after her heart rate calmed was "Are you… okay?"

He had his long leg behind his head and his right arm under it. His left hand was behind his back and his right leg curled up beside him. His torso looked… painful to say the least.

"Fine. Fine. You?" His face was calm as he looked to the side and proceeded to crack all of his toes, back, neck, even his nose… Tooth timidly moved out of the stack of paper, remembering what Astrid said about being proper. But this man seemed so… not proper. It clicked in her brain that Astrid was probably just kidding her and she rolled her eyes mentally. The man's skin really did look like it was tinged blue but it could have been the light so Tooth tried not to stare.

Instead, she argued, it was probably a good thing to be polite, so she held out her hand. Mr. Genie moved his, yeek, very flexible foot into Tooth's outstretched palm and he cracked his neck at the same time. Tooth was quick to move her hand out of the "shake" as quick as etiquette allowed and watched as Mr. Genie continued to crack each toe and ankle. She was awed in a way but more dismayed at how many bones he seemed to rearrange.

"Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Toothiana. Preston J. Genie. That's spelt G-E-N-I-E. Want to join me in yoga?" He asked.

"Uhm, _tempting_ but I'll pass. Uh, did you happen to know my father?"

"Yes, I did. Lovely person he was. We stayed close friends until the last days. He dragged me along on many of those so-called "expeditions" I lost count. Once he brought back that tooth you have around your neck."

Tooth defensively moved a hand to where the pouch was, etiquette gone.

"How did you know about that?"

Mr. Genie cracked his back.

"Oi. 10 days stuck in a cramped van will give such a crick in the neck. Well anyways, that man wouldn't stop talking about it. He went on and on about how it was from Atlantis, so I started singing and he didn't really like my singing voice you know. He talked about you as often as possible. I didn't stop him from talking about that."

He tried to offer Tooth a comforting smile but the effect was gone due to his body looking like it was disjointed.

"Funny… he never mentioned you." Tooth looked to the side with a forced smile as he continued to adjust his spinal column. Just how many cracking bones did this guy have?!

"Oh he wouldn't mention me! I like my privacy but I also like to travel as well, I like to keep a low profile, visiting my godson Aladdin in Agrabah sometimes. Low profile is why I have "j-i-n-n-i" written on the front of the house and not my actual last name. Oh Aladdin reminds me of that one time I…"

"Uh, Mr. Genie?" Tooth said, cutting him off.

"Yes?" He flipped up and did a handstand, cracking vertebrae in his back again. The robe had shorts, so it didn't fall down as he cracked his toes in the air. Tooth bent down on her knees and used her petite feet to balance herself so she was almost level with Mr. Genie's head.

"I don't mean being rude but why am I here?"

"That table, over there!" He used his head and left arm for balance and pointed at "that table" with his right.

Tooth turned to see something on the table. A package? No, it looked like… a book?

For Toothie with love

From Haroom and Rashmi Thatch

"For Toothie? That's what my parents always called me when I was little. With love? It's from… mom and dad."

Tooth would recognize that handwriting anywhere.

Tooth wanted to open it but turned her head at Mr. Genie who was standing up now. He continued to do his weird yoga but it transformed more into something like tai-chi.

"Your father gave that package to me years ago. Your mother too. They said if anything were to happen to them, they should give it to you when you were ready. You okay Toothiana?"

Tooth turned back to the package, awestruck at what her parents could have left her. She opened it up with delicate fingers, not wanting to damage anything (she would save the writing later), but when she completely took off the packaging…

"No, no it can't be… Oh my god." She put her free hand over her mouth and then closed her eyes. She opened them again. Tooth almost fell over and grabbed the table for support.

Mr. Genie was standing off a little ways, done with his exercises. A little hint of happiness was in his eyes, but he mainly kept his face straight when he looked at her.

"It's the Shepherd's Journal." She looked up at him. "Mr. Genie, this journal is the key to finding the lost continent of Atlantis."

He looked down. Toothiana could tell he faked a laugh, but she couldn't pinpoint why.

"Atlantis, psh. I wasn't born yesterday sweetie." He moved behind a dark screen and changed, throwing his robe up on the top of the metal wiring.

Tooth ignored him and opened up to a place in the middle of the book. It had beautiful hand drawn illustrations and letters and symbols. It was Atlantean. Beautiful, sweet Atlantean!

"No no-no, look, look at this. Coordinates, clues, it's all right here." Tooth's eyes flitted past each letter. She could read it but was too excited to delve deep into the sentences yet.

"Ah, well. It looks like gibberish to many people, including me."

"That-that's because it's written in-in a dialect that no longer exists."

Mr. Genie's voice came in with an air of disappointment but still there was something there Tooth couldn't pinpoint. Hope maybe? But hope for what?

"So, it's useless."

The corners of her lips stirred into a smile, she could barely keep in her excitement.

"No, no, it's just a little difficult. I've spent my whole life studying dead languages; it's not gibberish to me."

"Maybe it's a fake then."

She shut it as Mr. Genie stepped out in a roomy suit. He held a cane in his hands but did not seem to use it for walking. Instead he balanced his arms on it as Tooth tried to explain to him the meaning of the book she delicately held in her hands.

"Mr. Genie, my father would have known if this were a fake, _I _would know." She put the book down but still kept her hand on it, as if it would vanish if she didn't keep contact with it. Her voice faltered as she continued and she sounded like she was about to cry.

_Pull it together Toothiana. Come on. _

"I will stake everything I own, everything I believe in that this is the genuine Shepherd's Journal." Her voice cracked on that last part and she bit her lip to keep in her emotion.

"Alright, alright," Mr. Genie said seeming happier. "What would you like to do with it then?"

Tooth got excited at her prospective plans and followed Mr. Genie to his seat by the strange fish tank. He sat down at the long table and looked at Tooth as she paced.

"I'll- I'll get funding. I'll, uh, from the museum."

"How?" He shook his head as she continued.

"I-I will _make_ them believe."

"Just like you did today?" He asked kindly.

"Yes! Wait, no- how did you- ugh, forget about that! Nevermind!"

She waved her arms around frantically. Anything. Now that she had the Journal, she would do _anything_ to find Atlantis.

"I will find Atlantis on my own! I mean- If I have to rent a rowboat!"

Mr. Genie stopped shaking his head and the true happiness came out in his face. He jumped up out of his chair and gave Tooth a big hug.

"Wait, what the?"

"Congragulationnnsss! You did it! You passed the test! Oh, you did it Toothie! Good job!"

"Again, what?"

"Aw Tooth!" He gave her a noggie on her head, messing up her hair that she primed up before. He set her down gently but continued to celebrate.

"I'm so sorry my dear, but I needed to test you, you see. I needed to make sure that you were serious about this Journal. But my dear girl you passed! Now, forget that rowboat idea, that's just crazy. We'll travel in style."

He flipped up a knick knack on the table that revealed a button. He pressed it and to Tooth's amazement a gigantic model set of submarines came into view. But these were not just ordinary submarines. They were decked out and had some serious modifications. They were black, elongated, and had more mechanical engineering than Tooth had seen on real ships. The models also had an orange bubble like viewing area which was also the world's biggest windsheild. She brought her face for a closer look and her mouth opened at the intricacies and details of the model. She picked up a hot air balloon that was built for some serious hydraulic lift and she touched her finger against the propeller at the bottom.

Mr. Genie spoke.

"It's all been arranged! The whole magic carpet! Aren't you excited? I'm excited!"

Only one question popped in Tooth's head.

"Why?"

Why would some rich millionaire that she never met in her life want to help her?

"Ah, your father bent my ears with stories about that book on our travels together! He used to talk about it to me all the time. Now Tooth, I'm a free spirit so I could have decided whether to believe him or not. But! I said to him 'Haroom, if you ever find that Journal, not only will I finance the expedition but I'll kiss you full on the mouth, and to my embarrassment when he found it."

He picked up an old picture and showed it to Tooth. She couldn't help but giggle. Mr. Genie and her father both looked like they were dying. They were spitting everywhere and Tooth's mother was doubled over in the background, laughing.

"Now I know your parents are gone Tooth. Rest their souls but Preston Genie is one who keeps his words!" He walked over to the painting of him and Haroom.

"You hear that Mr. and Mrs. Thatch! Heh heh heh, I'll take care of your daughter and the expedition! It's all ready all good! Your wish of finding Atlantis is granted!" His jovial personality began to fade and he looked at the ground.

"Ah ha ha… haa. Your parents were great people Tooth. You probably don't realize how great they were. Each had the heart of a warrior, of a king and queen. No matter what anyone said about them, that's what they will always be to me. And although they may have lived humbly, that didn't mean they didn't live a full life." Tooth looked at Mr. Genie who was standing by the fireplace. He turned his head over his shoulder and walked up to Tooth, sadness clouding up his eyes.

"Those people at the museum dragged your father down and made a laughing-stock of him, but I always admired that Haroom never let it get the best of him, and that's why I still consider him a great friend to this day. If I could bring back one shred of proof, I could believe in magic again, like I once did. That itty-bitty shred of proof would be enough for me."

He placed a hand on Tooth's shoulder and then got back his cheerful demeanor.

"What are we standing around here for? We got a lot of work to do."

He stretched and walked to another table by the fish tank.

"Bu-but Mr. Genie, in order to do what you're proposing, you're gonna need a crew. Engineers, geologists…"

"Got them all. The best of the best! My friend rug man and I went around the globe looking for them and hiring them in various places. Hard to find, but easy to catch."

Tooth came up to a spread of people's profiles. They were _real _profiles with authentic government seals and everything! Mr. Genie pointed to each one and spoke about their professions.

"Witch Moliere. Geology and excavation." He pointed to a picture of an older woman. She looked Scottish and had frizz for hair.

"Why is she called…"

"Witch? She uses it as a codename of some sort. She makes bear carvings as a side hobby." He smiled at Tooth.

"Who's the next one?"

" E. Aster Bunnymund. Demolitions, explosives, so on. Found him on parole after he got caught in an Australian prison. Katherine Shalazar." Tooth's eyebrows shot up as she read her profile. She was only 13 years old?!

"Ah, don't let her age fool ya, she's figured more out about engines than you or I will ever know and she can read faster than we'll ever be able to comprehend." There were a lot more people but Mr. Genie cut off.

"They were the same crew that brought the Journal back."

Tooth gasped in excitement her hands going up to cover her smile.

"Where was it?"

He took out another picture from behind the profiles.

"Iceland!"

"Oh I knew it! I knew it!"

She looked at the picture again in complete excitement. It showed all of those people Mr. Genie just mentioned and had on profile including her father, mother, Astrid, and some other people. They were all smiling widely but the one holding the journal in the middle, for some weird reason, scared Tooth. Her smile, although it was still beaming, wavered a little when she looked at the man. He was tall and lean with spindly fingers. Even in the black and white photograph his skin looked ashen but he was smiling as he held the journal. That smile seemed to be covering something. Something menacing. Tooth couldn't help asking who he was.

"Oh, him. That's just Kozmotis Pitchiner. Be careful dear. His bite is much worse than his bark. He's a great general though. We'll need him to lead the expedition. We have everyone, we're ready to rumble, but we need an expert in gibberish." Tooth's eyes widened at the realization.

"This-this is actually happening, isn't it?"

"Yep. Now, decision time. You can build on the foundation your parents left you or you can go back to your boiler room. It is completely your choice." He put his hand to his mouth as if he was trying to keep conversation from someone.

"But between you and me, I would choose the expedition." He whispered. Then he smiled as he sat down. Tooth looked back at the picture and sat down as well, the model of the gigantic ship between them . The fish swam by in the tank, ignoring the two people.

"This. Is actually- this is for real."

"Yep."

She put a hand on her head a blinked a couple of times. Logical thinking. Logical thinking. Okay.

"I-I have to quit my job." She said, still sitting.

"Done. You resigned this afternoon."

"I did?" One of her eyebrows moved up.

"Yes, loose ends are not good for the skin you know, too many blemishes." He smiled.

"My apartment… I-I'll have to give notice."

"Taken care of my dear. Quite easy."

Okay so that just leaves...

"My clothes?"

"Packed."

"My books?"

"In storage."

"My cat?"

"Wish granted."

A mew came from behind Tooth's shoulder as Fluffy crawled up on top of her. Tooth pet her in extreme disbelief.

"My gosh."

Fluffy jumped off Tooth towards the fish. Mr. Genie walked over and handed the Shepherd's Journal to Tooth. She didn't realize that she put it down, but it wasn't harmed in any way and she took it carefully in her arms.

"Your father had a saying. 'Our lives are remembered by the gifts we leave our children.'" He imitated Haroom when he did this and Tooth's memories flitted back to her father.

"This Journal is his gift to you Toothiana. Atlantis is waiting. What do you say?" Mr. Genie held up Tooth's jacket and handed it out to her.

Tooth jumped up and grabbed it.

"I'm your woman Mr. Genie!"

He smiled as Tooth started putting her jacket on backwards.

"You will not regret this!" She crowed joyfully.

"I'm not expecting to." He said, stroking his beard.

"I-I-I'm so excited! I-I-I can't even, hold it in!"

In the next twenty-four hours she couldn't hold in anything. Boats, especially large ships had always made her nauseas if she was on deck, and she had been on the deck for two hours now. Tooth knew it would pass when she got in the submarine but it sure stunk as she put her head over the side of the railing.

"Carrots? Why is it always carrots? I didn't even eat carrots…"

A male voice came through the loudspeaker.

"_Attention. All hands to the launch bay." _The voice was old and wispy and gave the feeling that the person experienced many, many things over the years. Tooth bent down to gather her things and moved towards the inside of the ship.

* * *

**Omg this took me so long to write and then it took me like a half hour to read. What the heck? Well anyways, I really hope you like it! The next chapter's gonna have some Jack in it. And I will go on to say who the rest of the crew is but to know who Kathrine is you would have to have read the books. I'll explain her backstory and stuff, don't worry ;). Tooth's sad past was in this chapter. Sorry if I gave you feels. I will get to everyone else's sob-stories later. Hiccup and Toothless will be included... That is all for now kk bye. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow, this is late. Thank you all for liking my story (even though I haven't updated at all recently)! Sorry about that, it has been a long week. And woah, I wasn't expecting so many people to like it! Thank you for all your loveliness! **

**After this I won't be able to update for a while! **

**Well anyways, thak you soooooooooo much for reading my story! I love you all! **

* * *

Chapter 3 – What could go wrong anyways?

"_Attention. All hands to the launch bay."_

Tooth moved through the gigantic opening in front of her to come to a massive workroom. The message continued over the intercom, the wispy voice taking more shape. The voice often got hung up at the end of one word, but continued on to the next just as quickly, causing a broken but flow-like sentence.

"_To whoever took the "L" from the motor pool sign, Ha ha ha, we are all very amused. You will be found out and get your butt whipped in Kung Fu, I will see to that."_

_Click_. The intercom buzzed off as Tooth shifted her bag on her right shoulder. The broadcast was actually quite funny, but she didn't laugh because of the latter half of the message and because she still felt a little queasy. Instead, she focused her energy on the massive hangar she was walking through. There were sparks and machines everywhere! Cars being hoisted above her head, machine parts being carried by men three times her petite size, people welding, building. And what was that over there? It looked like the cross between a colossal cement truck and a gigantic drill. Tooth had absolutely no idea what all these cars and trucks were for but these masses of people were certainly working hard on them. Tooth walked towards one of the trucks, not exactly sure where she was going. Then, unable to help herself from looking again, she turned around to get another glimpse of the massive ensemble. It truly was something to look at; Tooth had never seen something before that so many people worked on with such vigor.

_Guess this is what you can do if you're a millionaire_. Tooth noted.

Too bad it smelt like overcooked fumes and corroding spark plugs. After a few more seconds she considered it would be better to move on instead of lingering. She turned around just in time before the thudding of heavy weighted boots almost stepped on her feet. She jumped back a bit, surprised at how heavy her bag was. It almost slid off her shoulder and she adjusted it again to make it more comfortable while she surveyed the person from behind.

The trench coat was long and it hid his or her features. It also had a high collar so Tooth couldn't see if the person was a woman or a man. Not wanting to be rude but figuring she needed to ask somebody, Tooth transferred the weight of the bag from her right shoulder to her left and used her right hand to reach out to tap the person, then thought better of it. She moved her hand back to hold the top of the bag and gave a small question.

"Excuse me? I need to uh, report in?"

"Yes, Ms. Thatch?"

Astrid's face came into view over her shoulder.

"Ahh! Oh uh, it's _you_."

Tooth didn't know why she was so surprised, maybe because a) she didn't expect to see Astrid again, b) because she was seriously considering that the person was a man, not a woman or c) because of the extreme outfit difference (or d) everything. Ah, yeah. Let's go with d)). Astrid was not only wearing a long trench coat, but gray khaki pants and a multicolored turtleneck. Her boots did look heavy weighted and Tooth was a little freaked out that they had little metallic spikes on them and skulls for aglets (they're the little tips of shoe laces :)). Her hair was in a braid and to top it all off she had a spiked headband. Tooth was about to speak again but a large rig was lowering down what looked like a little house. Sparks were flying everywhere and it caught Tooth's eye.

There was a man on it and he was huge. But Tooth's eyes were drawn (as they most often were) to languages. There was writing on the sides of the man and below him. Writing like "Today's Special. Shut up and eat!" and "NO SECONDS" in all caps. Tooth guessed if he was anything, he was the cook.

"Oi, Astrid, I've got a bone to pick with ya'"

Astrid sighed and spun around, but not before holding up a finger to Tooth.

"Whatever thought that was, hold it."

"What is it this time, Gobber?"

Tooth gasped. "Gobber" had no left hand! Instead it was more of a harpoon like mechanism tied to his arm with rope. Tooth wanted to know what happened but Astrid and him were having a heated conversation. And was that a Viking helmet?

"You wen' an' stuffed my wagon with t'ings we don't need. Non-essentials, Astrid. Cinnamo'n, oregana'? Cilantro?"

He picked up one after the other and then placed them back into the cart.

"We need meat, Astrid. Lamb an' such. Pork chops ar' good. "

Astrid rolled her eyes and shifted her spiked headband with gloved fingers, evidently annoyed.

"What da' we need all this fer? And wha' is this?" He continued and speared a head of lettuce with his harpoon like arm. He looked at the lettuce like he never saw something like it before and Astrid plucked it off of the arm-harpoon. Even though Gobber towered over Astrid, she didn't budge. Apparently, she was used to this, unlike Tooth who was almost ready to walk on.

"That would be a vegetable Gobber. The men and women of this vessel need the four basic food groups." Astrid said matter of fact.

"I got yer' four basic food groups," Gobber grumbled. "Fish, lamb, whiske', and some type o' oil to cook stuff with eh'?"

Astrid tossed the lettuce in her hands. Maybe not telling Gobber was a bad choice, he usually got used to cooking whatever she needed him too. But no time to talk now, a harsh buzz sounded from overhead.

"Alright Gobber, pack it up and move it out. Come on Ms. Thatch, we're heading down to the launch bay." Astrid stuck the lettuce back on Gobber's arm and moved in a zigzag pattern past all the boxes.

Tooth timidly followed suit and curtseyed to Gobber. Gobber rubbed a tooth that was jutting out with his natural hand but smiled at Tooth's gesture as she passed him and followed Astrid.

Tooth heard the intercom switch on again in the same calm, wispy voice as before.

"_Attention, all hands to the launch bay. Final loading in progress."_

Astrid pushed Tooth to a wooden platform where a bunch of unfamiliar faces were gathering in straight, ordered lines. They made way for Tooth but didn't talk to her and, in that moment, Tooth questioned whether she was right for this journey. There were so many professionals here and she was just the girl from the boiler room. Ugh, the boiler room. Tooth had enough of the boiler room. What she really wanted was excitement and adventure and it was being handed out to her on a silver plate and she was questioning it?

_Come on Tooth. You can do this! _

She took a deep breath in and out as the wooden platform jolted and moved down to the bowels of the ship. Tooth heard a faint clanging when she was on the elevator but didn't understand the full gravity of the loud and frequent sounds until the elevator stopped at an enormous launching bay. Even more enormous than the first hanger she was in. Her mouth dropped open. The whole submarine was the biggest one she had ever seen and the largest one she would probably ever see. The massive steel girders that ribbed the underwater vessel reached from the bottom of the ship where it touched the ocean to the top of the ship, where it was open to air. _Much _bigger than that little model she saw at the mansion.

WOAH, if anything, was the proper term to use here. More sparks from welding hung from the ceiling in an everlasting waterfall until they fizzled out in the air. Tooth was shocked at how many cars, people, boxes, and crates were dwarfed by the size of the marvel of the submarine. She walked off the platform in awe and she was hit from behind by something.

"Oi, Sheila."

A man addressed Tooth in an Australian accent from behind the cart that bumped into her. She spun around and saw a tall man in a large grey and furry turtleneck. He had grey-blue tattoos going all the way down the back of his neck to his hands and there was also some on his forehead and ears. His dark brown hair was really wavy and…fluffy looking. He was young, in his late 20s, also 6 ft 1' tall and had darkish tan skin. He was staring down at Tooth with clear green eyes that were half open with apathy.

"If you're lookin' for the pony rides, they're back there."

His eyes narrowed further and he pushed past her with his big cart full of a bunch of bags and other stuff that Tooth couldn't exactly make out. A cylindrical object dropped from the cart and Tooth bent down to pick it up, a little exasperated at the way he treated her.

"Excuse me, ahem, excuse me? You dropped you're dy-dy-dy-dy-dynamite."

Tooth actually looked at what she was holding and almost flung it as far away from her as possible. But the Australian had turned back and brought his cart. He was looking at her annoyed and she gulped then laughed nervously. Trying not to stare at him, she turned her gaze to the cart not realizing she used the dynamite stick to point.

"What else have you, uh, got in there?"

"Oh, eh," He took the dynamite out of Toothiana's hands and used it to count off fingers, still apathetic.

"Gunpowder, nitroglycerin, eggs, notepads." He emphasized "notepads", as if _that_ was the most important thing in the cart.

"Fuses, wicks, glue… and…uh, Paper clips, big ones." He held up his gloved hands about shoulder length, keeping the stick of dynamite between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. Tooth didn't know if he was kidding or being serious.

"You know, just, some office supplies." He walked off with the cart and Tooth was still nodding slowly, eyes almost falling out of her head.

_That _was office supplies?!

"Toothiana! Where have you been sweetie?"

She turned and shifted the bag again on her shoulder.

"Mr. Genie!"

"Yes, deary. Now I want you to meet Kozmotis Pitch Pitchiner. He led the team that brought the journal back."

moved behind Tooth and placed a hand on her back, almost to protect her and Tooth warily held out her hand to the general. She tried to give off her best smile. He seemed friendly enough despite the cold black outfit he wore and the weird aura he gave off.

"Toothiana Thatch, oh what a pleasure it is to meet you."

The rusty and slow English accent Tooth heard gave the general an impression of having a voice filtered in dust. His bony grey fingers clasped in hers lightly. Then he pulled away quickly as if the notion of touching people's hands disgusted him and he put them both behind his back. Well if he was disgusted, he certainly did a good job hiding it. His amber-grey eyes flitted to the side and back again. Tooth could tell the conversation was boring him but he still put on a fake smile, showing off those wondrously gross teeth.

"The child of Rashmi and Haroom Thatch. It was such a pity what happened to your father and mother. I understand. What it's like to lose family."

He pat her shoulder and Tooth recoiled, a little anxious. She felt that whatever he said, he was lying, but a little touch of sincerity kept her from shuddering at the end.

Then, instead of being hurt at Tooth's recoil, he almost seemed to relish it and something… malevolent… gleamed behind his eyes. Whatever part of the ship he was in, Tooth would make sure she was the farthest person from him. The general addressed the book that Tooth had taken out of her pocket at the mention of it and she brought it a little closer to her chest on reflex.

"I see you have my- I uh, I mean your journal there Tooth. It has beautiful illustrations in it, but I prefer a book that's more, how do you say, high-class."

Tooth's eyebrows came together and he looked like he sneered at her as he turned away towards the ship. Mr. Genie patted Tooth's shoulder and whispered to her.

"You see, his bite is much worse than his bark, although his bark is rather vicious too. Something dreadful happened to him years ago, and he seems to never have been able to let it go, so try to be cautious around him. But anyways Toothie, you impressed?"

Tooth shook off the weird behavior of the general when she and Genie caught up to Kozmotis who waited for them. Tooth concentrated on speaking to Mr. Genie.

"Boy, when you settle a bet, y-you settle a bet."

"Well your parents always believed that you can't put a price on the pursuit of knowledge."

"Well, uh, believe me; if we find anything out about Atlantis on this trip, this is going to be small change in comparison… Not that I know how much you're uh, heh spending."

"Yes, this shall be enriching for us all." Kozmotis said, keeping his hands behind his back.

Tooth tried not to glance at the general and pretended to have trouble with her bag again. The wispy voice buzzed on the intercom one more time before launch.

"_Attention, all personnel. Launch will commence in fifteen minutes." _

Mr. Genie looked sadly from Kozmotis to Tooth. Kozmotis did a slight bow and shifted up to the ship's loading dock. Mr. Genie returned the bow and then turned to Tooth.

"Try to come back okay sweetheart? In one piece."

She nodded, a little teary eyed. They had one last hug and then she scrambled up to the loading dock, waving as she went.

"Bye Mr. Genie! Thank you for everything!"

"Make us proud sweetheart!" He called as the iron door shut and sealed the crew inside.

One of the diving officer's voices came over the loudspeakers.

"Commander Sandy has given the order! Rig ship for dive!" The voice boomed. Mr. Genie watched as all the hatched were closed and sealed. The chief of watch called back.

"Aye sir! Rig ship for dive!"

Astrid stood on a raised platform with Pitch. She surveyed the outside of the control room, a gigantic sphere of orange glass, and looked down at the diving officer, who was in a golden robe. He looked up to her and nodded. She nodded back to him and moved her gaze back to the front. She nodded to Pitch, who had also seen the interaction. They were ready.

"Lieutenant," Pitch looked out the control room. "Take her down."

"Diving officer, submerge the ship." Astrid said coolly.

"Aye!" Shouts sounded from below and all the officers started moving the levers and twisting pulleys while the submerging siren from overhead went off. Under the command of Mr. Genie, all of the members at the control room had practiced for at least five years on a demo control panel of the vessel and they expertly sunk the ship to the lieutenant's command.

"Make the depth1-5-0 feet."

A strong voice came zooming through the intercom to the lower levels, where the driver of the ship was waiting with a bunch of people at the control panel.

"Dive! Dive! 5 Degrees down bubble! Take us down"

At the command he spun a gear right above him three times to his left and turned the steering wheel 45 degrees to his right twice. A warning alarm came on in the hangar and the thick steel hooks that were latching on the ship let go.

Mr. Genie waved to the crew through the glass dome as they fell into the ocean and put one thumb up into the air as he was waving to them. His put his other hand behind his back and crossed his fingers for luck as the massive submarine gurgled into the sea.

Tooth put her bag down beside her and looked out of the glass dome to the deep vastness of the ocean. This was no coral reef. The light was fading as they sunk, not that there had been much light in the cloudy sky before anyway, and it was getting darker and darker. Honestly, Tooth felt a little trapped in the massive ship. Although it was larger than her house, than the boiler room, than even the museum, Tooth enjoyed the open air and felt a little pit in her stomach. Maybe it was time to move to her rooms. She bent down and rummaged through her bag, finding the little note she left for herself.

"Room 20200... Okay."

She zipped the cord along the top of the bag and hoisted it up on her shoulder and made her way for the back of the ship, room 20200.

* * *

Bare toes slinked up the soft moss-covered tunnel, a blue glowing necklace guiding the way. The owner of those toes shifted his bodyweight to his heels and felt the smooth rocks with his hands. Although he had climbed this tunnel many times before, maybe even thousands of times, there were many pathways leading out of the palace to the dying kingdom, and he wanted to be sure he was going the right way. He pushed to his left, seeing the ancient carvings on the sides of the walls covered in various and plentiful blooming plants. His blue irises flickered to a little tick mark he had made to point the way and he watched as the blue light of his crystal made the writing on the wall glow. It was pointing left but he had made the tick mark opposite of his destination so that no one could pursue him if they found this place. He crawled into another tunnel to his right and came to a cavern, a large air pocket in the network of caves that probably formed years ago.

The large, dark walls had bent almost to a perfect bubble shape, and he admired the way nature had created it. There were about two hundred tunnels that led out of the cave, probably air pockets themselves, but only one was the path he needed. The young man, still crouching, sniffed the air. Many different smells mixed together, but he concentrated on the one that smelt like sea salts and wood. He closed his eyes to concentrate harder and followed his nose. When he opened his eyelids, first one, then the other, he found that his body had moved for him and he had crawled a few inches straight ahead. Using his tall legs like springs, he nearly flew to the large stone in front of him and used it as a leverage point to jump to one of the opening tunnels. He clambered on the ledge and looked back at the jump he made. Then he swung his head around and smacked into a sooty wall!

It was a dead-end and he had accidentally taken the wrong path. He slowly moved his head back and rubbed the bottom of his nose, which was dully throbbing. He let out a little groan, then rolled his eyes and went to the precipice of the short ended passage. Trying to get a whiff of the air a second time, he swung himself to the tunnel right below him. He felt around for a wall with one hand before moving in completely, the other hand was still holding his nose. There was nothing in front of him. Just to be sure he put up the glowing blue crystal revealing an actual passageway. Okay, _this_ was the right tunnel.

He rubbed his nose again and then used all four limbs to propel himself up the long windy passageway. When he saw the dim light overshadow the bright light of his crystal necklace he smiled. One of his pale white feet kicked open the ferns that hid the small cave opening from the sunlight. Then he used one of his long arms to keep them from snapping back into place before he stepped out of the deep tunnels. The edge of the tunnel led out to a rock that acted as a platform, and it was covered in moss and large ferns that fell over the edge. He put a hand over his eyes and used the other one for balance as the light of the sun reflected off the glimmering water and hit his skin.

The boy on the rock platform laughed when his eyes adjusted to the bright light. The sunlight was always fun to feel and to look at. Even though it warmed up his skin, and he did not really like heat, he spread out his bare arms and chest to the bright light and absorbed the gentle warmth, exposing the tattoos he had from birth that wrapped around his torso and face. Then he saw his friend down by the docks, ordering something to some other Atlantans by the ships. The boy made sure he had a good foot hold and cupped his hands by his mouth.

"Sūtæral!" He shouted.

His friend spun around and the hybrid birds that were peacefully flying around scattered in confusion. Jack giggled into his hand as his friend brandished his staff before he found the source of the shout.

"Na shí to wė lebe leshaw (Why if it isn't the prodigal son.)" He muttered putting his staff back down and pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"Kosê íshi na se, Jakuto`pe (Get down here, Jack)." He called.

Jack rolled his eyes at the use of "to`pe" and was annoyed at the fact that a couple of people on the loading dock were laughing. "To`pe" meant "little" in Atlantean and suggested that he was below the age of ten. Jack, instead of taking the "safe" route down to the beach, used his skills to expertly fling himself through the rigging of all the ships. His friend watched him swing this way and that, his white hair flying in all directions, and finally doing a front flip and landing in a perfect… handstand. The long part of the blue royal fabric on Jack's lower body fell into his face, exposing the fabric that wrapped around his legs to form shorts (which were the equivalent of boxers). The other white haired man shook his head at Jack as a couple of young women that were carrying some fish past the docks cooed and waved at Jack. Jack waved back, moving to a handstand with one muscular arm. The women laughed and waved their scarves at him.

"Shi tö sė? (Really?)"

"Dellá lō, Sūtæral. (Can it, Nightlight.)" Jack put both hands down again and then flipped back up on his feet. Then he dusted the sand off his hands and got his robes back where they were supposed to be. He looked at Nightlight and crossed his arms.

"Na te so bashi 'To`pe'. Hën shi wegé na tob. (It's weird when you call me "little Jack". Don't do it anymore.)."

Nightlight frowned and then patted Jack on the back, smiling. He was one of the royal family's most trusted advisors and that meant he was a station below the royal family, but that didn't mean Jack was right all the time.

"Jas tę co wa te nø, so jas ma se shi. (If you're going to act like a little kid, then I'm going to call you as such)."

Jack smirked despite himself. He actually considered Nightlight a friend more than a "station below" him and Nightlight had been the protector of Jack's own father, so they were more like brothers than anything else. That didn't stop them from poking fun at each other though.

(A/N! When I switch to English that's in italics, it means that they're still speaking in Atlantean; it's just "translated". And Nightlight calls him "Jack" not "little Jack" from this point on.)

"_Aw what? That flipping through ship riggings at top speed wasn't good enough for you?"_

Nightlight smirked himself. Even though Jack came two and a half heads taller than him, Jack was more like a younger brother than an older one.

"_No. But come, I must tell you things about your…project." _

Jack quickly nodded and walked with Nightlight on the sand, trying to be nonchalant with his hands behind his back. Jack felt a little nervous without his staff and fiddled with his spiky hair. He usually carried it, but his sister was using it today and he didn't bring it. Besides, it would have been hard to maneuver in the caves so Jack swallowed his nervousness and focused on a bigger problem.

"_So, how's the project coming? Did we find anything new yet?"_

By this time they were out of the docs and had moved to another cave. Nightlight had specifically avoided Jack's question and Jack patiently waited until they got into a blue-purple cave. The cave was a little ways off from Atlantis. About fifteen minutes worth of walking to and from it, so it wasn't too far off the coast but no one was really walking around, so it was perfect to talk about Jack's secret project. He had to keep it from his father or he would toss Jack to the leviathan that protected the outskirts of Atlantis... Although Jack thought that was a myth used to keep him out of touble when he was a kid, there was still some fear that his father knew what he was talking about when he told him old stories. For some reason they still frightened him, even though he was thousands od years old.

Jack brought his hands to the front of his torso and twiddled his thumbs in anticipation.

"_Well?"_

"_Uh…no. We didn't find anything new yet."_

Jack threw his head back.

"Jabáshí!"

When the last echoes of the word drifted off the cave, Nightlight rolled his eyes.

"_Geez Jack, don't use that language. Everybody is working as hard as they can on finding a connection with the surface world, but we've been cut off for so long we probably need a piece of it to be able to complete the teleportation path."_

Jack sighed.

"_If only father would understand the purpose of this machine… He could probably help us… Alright well everything else is fine then? We just…"_ Jack's eyes lit up. _"We just need a piece from the surface world!?" _

Nightlight looked a little bit concerned.

"_Yes?" _

Jack grabbed Nightlight's shoulders and shook them as he spoke.

"_We only need a piece of the surface world! What if I told my father we were going around for a perimeter check in the old Volcano? It will probably take us a while, possibly a few months. We can bring a small crew, a couple of provisions that will last us a while. And my sister could run the kingdom while I'm gone, she does a pretty good job of that already, she's old enough now. You can come too Nightlight! It'll be fun!"_

"_I really don't think that's the best idea Jack."_ Jack let go of his friend threw up his hands.

"_Aright, alright, if we find any remnants of the old surface world or, better yet, we find the opening to the old surface world, we make markers that will tell us where we're supposed to go!"_

"_I really doubt we'll find the old surface world… but I guess it's worth a shot?"_

"_YES! THANK YOU NIGHTLIGHT!" _Jack crowed. Although he would probably try this on his own if he had too, having Nightlight come along with him was great. Now he just had to convince a few other people that it was just a perimeter search, even though no threats from the volcano had been present for thousands of years... and now all he had to do get permission from his father, the king...

* * *

"Hæñ Jakul. Ja blen żo oh kehmen... Żo es muÿs ćo temqúe. (Yes, Jack. I suppose it's your time to have the honor…I approve of your request)"

Jack could barely hold in his excitement. He had managed to get a crew, (including Nightlight!), get his seventeen year old sister, Emma, to watch over the people while he was gone, and his father approved of it! This was great!

"Aènte, tóbtób. Ja lê shé so tat tùe? (Thank you, father. What could go wrong anyways?)"

His father stroked his long beard and looked off to the side, eyes cloudy. His large headdress had been removed from his old head to give his neck a rest and the wrinkled man sat a little slumped on his throne. The full moon symbol on his emperor's pendant was just one band of necklace straps out of many, but it was the closest one to his glowing blue crystal and he stared at them when he spoke to Jack.

"_Just be safe, Jack."_

"_Yeah, Jack, be safe okay." _

His sister spoke up from the side and Jack swung his head over to her. Her white hair was really long and reached down to the edge of her elbows. She wore a strap-less royal blue shirt that went down to her hips and cut upwards as it reached the top of her back, held together by a couple of straps at the end. The royal outfit was completed by a long skirt that covered her ankles but had small slits up the sides so her legs could breathe. Her crystal necklace glowed against her chest and lit up her face, which was more streamlined than it was years ago, but still retained its round softness. Emma, unlike most Atlantean people, barely had any markings on her facial features, instead, she had them all along her back (hence the backless shirt), shoulders and arms, and she often traced them slowly when she was nervous or upset. Jack noticed that Emma had started tracing the blue markings by her left hand and he walked over to her. She stayed still as Jack gave her a bear hug but then she gave him an equally strong hug back, closing her blue eyes.

"_Don't be a numskull while I'm gone... Actually, the kingdom's running should go a lot smoother when you're not here, ow!"_

Jack flicked her on the forehead and then gave her a light noogie. Jack always had a soft spot for his sister, and even though Atlantans lived thousands of years, not seeing her for a few months would be really hard. He let go of her and looked off to the side.

"_I'll be back as soon as I can... I'll expect a hero's welcome and such Emma."_ He said, smiling and looking down at her.

"_Tch. I need to go on one of these perimeter checks to get this 'honor' everyone talks about." _

Jack laughed and then picked up the hunting mask that was offered to him by the king's attendants. He bowed and hopped on the floating squares in the throne room, trying not to bounce around like a child. The others were waiting outside for him, Nightlight the only one not in mask.

"_Some attendants told us that your father had processed your request. You ready?" _

All of them had their provisions and armor on. Jack took a shoulder protector from Nightlight and slung it over both shoulders after he put the mask down. Then he smiled and moved the large mask over his head. Wait, he was missing…

"_Jack!"_

He swung around and saw Emma running down the steps with his staff.

"_Jack, you forgot your staff!" _

He took it from Emma and she stood awkwardly shifting her foot. Then Jack put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a hug.

"_I'll be back soon. Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone!"_

"_I promise." _She smiled sadly. Jack's smile vanished under the mask that covered his entire body. It had large carving of an ancient warrior in some sort of lightweight shield material and Emma couldn't tell it was him. Nightlight had put the mask on too and they were off.

Emma sighed. This was going to be a long couple of months without Jack. Even Nightlight, someone she talked too if Jack wasn't there, would be gone. She sat down, resting her face on her hands, and watched them all run off until she could see little figures scuttling over the rickety old bridge like bugs. Then they vanished into the dark mouth at the volcano's entrance, they almost looked like they were eaten by the shadows. Emma hoped they would be okay. A few minutes later in the silence of the morning, Emma heard a guard come up behind her and the click of his spear on the marble.

"Tóbé, jàle sœm libenmōck Emmałtöshì. (Emma, your highness, it's time for your father's sponge bath.)"

Emma slapped her hand against her forehead and let it slide down her face. Jack was the one who usually did father's sponge baths once a week. Great. Apparently that job was hers until he came back.

"Jakul, Ûlbē ńe ba ko. (Jack, you are so dead.)"

"Emmałso! (Emma!)"

"Shilem tóbtób, shilem. Jas shi yo! (I'm coming, father, I'm coming. Chill!)

Emma stepped up to the inside, gold ankle bracelets clinking, and the attendants closed the door for her most royal highness.

* * *

**Did you like this chapter? I gave you Jack and Emma yo! Yey! XD And Tooth is gonna have herself a Mole problem in the next chapter and something to do with a Leviathan. Guess it aint a myth Jack! Bunnymund was also introduced in this chapter. :) I tried to keep it with the movie but added some crossover flair in it (I hope so anyways!).**

**By the way, did you enjoy the Atlantean? I made it up so... If you don't like it I'll try to include less, or more if you liked it! PM me if you have any questions about the pronunciation, or how I thought it was supposed to be pronounced in my head ;. Alrighty, well goodbye for now! I hope this chapter is enough to satisfy you until I update again! XD **

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**Everybody! I _made up_ the Atlantean by listening to the movie! I literally have been watching the movie clips where they speak Atlantean, trying to translate it in my head, and then I write it down! It's not an actual language (omg I wish it was!), so don't feel weird if you have trouble prounouncing and stuff! I processed the Atlantean in my head and "transcribed" it into "words" that sounded similar... or cool. :) Thank you for your reviews and support! I love you guys! **


	4. Chapter 3 and a half

**I'm getting back into the swing of updating things again. I'll update a chapter for another story I haven't touched in a long long time (because it needs an update) and then I'll post another chapter here. Please bear with me... **

* * *

**These are mini chapters, about half the size of the full length chapters.**

**Please, deal with the slow updates as best as you can. I'm sorry if it's taking too long but I can't put my life on hold for this story (unfortunately). And I know you like my story and want me to update quickly (and thank you for that), but please be nice in the comments. I'll be able to update again regularly soon. **

**HOLY CRAP I JUST REALIZED THAT THEY DON'T HAVE SUNLIGHT… SORRY! I WILL REVISE THAT!**

* * *

Chapter 3.5: Emma

"_There you go dad!" _Emma shuffled out of the large bath hall and closed the door behind her with her fingertips awkwardly. She left the attendants of the palace to tend to her father's wrinkled skin and shuddered when the doors were completely shut.

"_I do NOT want to do this for months!" _

She shuddered again, as if she got a chill from a cold breeze, and walked out into warm air. As the slight warmth of the energy crystal started to bring some color back into Emma's face, she stretched out her arms to absorb the light and looked over to the volcano's mouth. It was black and empty and hollow, reflecting Emma's feelings. Jack and Nightlight were gone; there was no one to talk to but her father… who would start ranting about the ancient lunar cycles( like he had done millions of times before the moon was lost to them)… and the guards? No, they wouldn't want to talk to her about anything other than "her highness" this and "her highness" that.

Emma sighed. She didn't have that many friends that she could go with to events in the city. Emma perked up a little bit.

"Tai i sh'l…Bagâmė! (Events huh…A festival!)"

Yeah that would work! It would get her mind off Jack and the others, and she would be keeping the kingdom happy! A lot of people had been asking Jack and her dad about putting on an old stream of plays from Grecian times. A couple of Atlantean scripts were still available in the palace! Oh… wait a minute…

"_Urgh, I can't read Atlantean." _She waved her hands around in the air and paced around the outside of the place doors, her voice echoing through the vast pillars.

"_I'm Atlantean and I can't read Atlantean, how stupid is that!" _

She grit her teeth and held her breath, then let it go.

"_Okay, okay, what would Jack do?" _Her eyes rolled in their sockets. _"He would goof off to get an idea, that's what." _

Emma narrowed her eyes to the distant glittering water, beyond all plants and trees that wrapped around the palace rocks. She couldn't see any people, more like bugs scuttling about. The quick movement of a white fish net caught her eye. Although she couldn't see the people carrying it, its white rope stood out from the dark brown ship.

Emma moved a strip of her colorless hair back and forth in her blue and light peach tone fingers and she watched as the fish net wobbled and fell onto the sand. Emma gasped. It looked like it could have hit someone! She called out to guards, saying that she was going to run to the market. They couldn't get a word out before she was down the steps and running through the city.

When she finally got to the harbor, out of breath, clothes somewhat sweaty, she walked onto the sand and felt the grain like pebbles rub against her feet. It felt nice.

She took a deep breath and then walked casually to the loading dock. The white net didn't look like it was anywhere. Oh! There it was. She raced towards it and there were a crowd of people had moved around the area. Emma tried to squeeze through the crowd but couldn't get past. Despite being seventeen, she was about Nightlights height, which was two and a half heads shorter than Jack, so she couldn't see what was happening.

"Žan- ûhé! Žan- ûhé! Üen`que…Emmałtöshì żo! Mokœlabén! (Excuse me! Excuse me! Geez… I am Highness Emma! Move!)"

The elbows she was trying to push through moved suddenly with gasps of "your highness" and she stumbled into the open space. She made a mental note to get out more and introduce herself as only "Emma" like Jack had. A man was sitting upright on the sand with a deep cut running up his arm, blocking the view of one of his blue tattoos. Apparently, Emma had run fast because the cut wasn't only fresh, but it hadn't bled a lot yet. He was scraggily looking, an old timer and for some reason he looked like he was meditating. If her guess was correct, he was a part time worker who pruned the palace trees.

"Žan- ûhé jåbí. Se men uń te co ba? (Excuse me sir, why didn't you heal yourself yet?)"

The Atlantians' glowing crystals also acted as a healing tool. Did everyone forget that?

"Emmałtöshì?" He looked over. His bearded face reminded her of her father and she rolled her eyes.

"Emmałso, en tu. Emmałso bá. (Everyone should call me Emma. Just Emma.)"

He nodded slightly and then rested his head on the sand, smiling.

"_What is a youngster like yourself doing here? Don't you have place matters to attend to?"_

"_I'm attending them right now, thank you." _She huffed. _"You know the crystal is a healing tool right?" _

"_Oh, yes. My wound was much worse before, but now I'm just getting the last of the kinks out. These kind people gathered around me and asked if I needed any help, but I declined. They seem to have taken a liking to me though."_

Emma blinked. _"Oh… well I'm glad it was nothing serious…"_ Emma considered leaving but figured it would be better to mingle with people.

"_Mind if I join you?" _

He smiled.

"_Sure." _

Emma sat down and looked at his meditating position a couple of times before getting it right. She sat opposite to the man and began to talk. She noticed that other people had stopped what they were doing, and gathered around them in a circle, trying to sit in the same meditative position. They looked like they were curious about what she had to say, but she only addressed the man at first.

"_So, what were you doing at the docks anyway? Aren't you a place worker?"_

"_Yes I am, good observing Miss Emma. I came down to the docks to see if your brother Jack was here. He wanted to see if I could do something for him."_

"_Hmm…" _Emma let her posture droop. _"Jack's going to be away for a couple of months, I'm going to be doing his "responsibilities" in his stead…"_

"_Sounds like a lot of work… Out of curiosity, have you come up with anything yet?" _

The man put the crystal near to his arm and healed another part of it. The cut must have been extremely deep if he didn't go in and heal it all right away.

"_I'll tell you if you tell me why you're healing your arm so slowly."_

"_Hahaha! You're a inquisitive one, Emma. Just like your brother."_

Emma smiled at the complement and he continued.

"_My arm had near fallen off. Those fish nets are extraordinarily heavy, and jagged."_

"_Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh...I should make a rule that no one is to lift one of them without checking." _

"_That sounds wonderful, please do so. But I am fine now. These crystals used to be able to heal a lot faster, but after tens of thousands of years without direct sunlight, they have slowed down a bit. Haha, Now, answer my question if you please." _He leaned forward a little, smiling and he seemed interested in her plan.

"_Oh… I was actually thinking of a… a festival." _Emma twiddled her thumbs as she said this, surprised when so many people gave positive murmurs from the crowd.

"_A festival would be nice."_

"_That would be awesome" _

"_Mommy, can I go to the Princess's festival?"_

Emma smiled wholeheartedly then turned her attention back to the old timer.

"_What do you think?"_For some reason Emma liked this man, and respected him. An arm nearly flying off would scare the breakfast out of her, but he seemed so cool and collected. It was almost if he knew things would be okay… Emma made another mental note.

Emma's Mental Note list:

Festival

Introduce strangely calm man to dad so that dad can get out more, and not hole himself up in the palace.

"_A festival sounds wonderful dear. But what for?"_

"…"

"_May I make a suggestion if possible Emma?"_

"_Of course!" _Jack was usually the one who organized things like this! Emma felt proud that she was able to do something on her own for once.

"Bagâmė to gén bli Maibenmóck gai chu tōp? Odir ka ko sen lai lebe no. (May the festival be in honor of the Great Flood? There can be dancing for our ancestors.)"

The man finished healing his arm and relaxed from his meditating position. Emma's mouth hung open slightly as she tried to process the event in her head.

"_That's… that's great! But let's make the dancing fun too! And there can be flowers and decorations! Hey everybody!" _Emma stood up, getting excited.

"_What do you think of a festival to honor the ancestors of the Great Flood?"_

There was silence for a minute, then murmurs. A bunch of little nods from the crowd let Emma know that everyone was happy with the decision.

"_Alright, I'll get word out by tomorrow! And anyone may stop at the palace entrance to give ideas! We can have the festival in the platform before the palace gates on the viewing circle. Is this not fun?" _

Emma was beaming before she got to the end of her sentence and a couple other people were too.

"Bagâmė go bai na bho tele! Shilem o' se jåbí! (The festival will be in a month from now! Come with me sir!)"

"En tu Ombríc. (Call me Ombric.)" He smiled.

Once Ombric and Emma had made their way up the palace, Emma being surprised at how fast the old man moved, they sat at the doors and talked about all the prospective plans for the new festival. Emma would have introduced her father to Ombric, but the old man was taking a mid-afternoon nap as he often did.

"_Sorry about that Ombric, I could wake up my dad sooner but…"_

"_That is fine child, do not worry. You're father must bear a lot of burden. He is much older than I. I was 15* at the time of the Flood, your father was about 29*." _

Emma smiled as they ate little bits of fish the guards had brought out for them. They talked for hours, laughing most of the time, and Emma and Ombric started to become good friends. They talked about Jack and his laziness but ability to rule kindly, Nightlight's strength and wit, even a couple of people from Greece, like Plato, and that crazy Shepherd that came so many years ago to document the history of the Atlantians. These were mainly Ombric's memories but Emma took a liking to them and enjoyed talking about her history that no one else knew about. She found Ombric to be very knowledgeable and enjoyed how much she was learning. At one point in their long conversation, they talked about books and how it was sad that no one could read them.

"_Can you read by any chance?"_ Ombric asked her.

"_I cannot. It is sad. I am royalty and should know, so should Jack, but I was only a baby when the Flood happened and Jack was only starting to learn a few letters. My dad could probably read, but the memories have escaped him. Some scripts were saved, but all of our translation books were gone and over the years people started to forget." _

"_It is too bad that we do not have an interpreter… Suppose we should find one over the next couple of months as we are preparing for this festival." _

He smiled at her excitement.

"_Of course! There might be someone who knows how to read Atlantean!"_

Over the next couple of weeks Ombric and Emma searched everywhere for a translator, while getting prepared for the festival and thinking about all the people's suggestions and requests. Although they found out that no one could read Atlantean, Ombric phrased it as "Well, knowing what the people cannot do is better than not knowing at all".

Finally the night of the festival arrived! There were decorations everywhere, and everyone was invited. There was a bonfire and people danced in the dimming light of the crystal, and the people were ecstatic with the ingenuities designed by Ombric and Emma. There were many of the Atlantians native flowers placed all around an ensemble of pillars that had the faces of Atlantean ancestors drawn into them, and there was enormous feast of everyone's favorite dishes. Ombric, all though he did not dance, laughed with Emma's father when she was asked by many awkward young men to dance. They laughed even harder when Emma took the lead and spun _them_ around because she was so strong. The music was almost alive and the air pulsed with the loud and quick paced drums and Atlantean instruments. The light of the fire danced on everyone's faces and the king suggested that they have this event annually and possibly, more festivals to come. At the end of the dancing and festivities, before everyone left, they put their own set of flowers on the still water in the moat of the palace, honoring their relatives or ancestors that had died in the Maibenmóck.

Ombric, Emma, and her father, all agreed that it was a wonderful festival, and it had lasted until dawn. Emma flopped on her bed, extremely happy. She fell asleep right away, smiling at the fact that Ombric had been accepted as a council to the king and she would be seeing him more and more often.

No one knew however, that Jack would come back again in two weeks, earlier than they had expected, and he would bring some interesting visitors with him.

* * *

***I was not sure how to convert age to Atlantean so I left it in human years. **

**I know you're probably like "whut, but in the books Ombric's last name is Shalazar, not Katherine" well, there's a plan to that. **

**Also, I didn't have time to do a spell check so sorry if there are misspellings. **

**Bye for now and stay with me. :) Sorry for the slow updates. **


	5. Chapter 4

**I know I'm late I'm sorry. I got a little carried away with writing on this so I broke it up into two chapters. Hope you enjoy it! And thank you so much for liking this story! And remember that this was all inspired by emiismadeofart on tumblr for drawing the fanart! (Which she very nicely let me use for the cover) **

* * *

Chapter 4 – A presentation and introductions

"_Attention…" _

Tooth looked around the cabin. Room 20200. It was, in a word, tiny. It was a lot smaller than she expected, but it was about the size of her (former) bedroom, with all the accommodations. There was a small mirror and sink where she came in, a desk to her left. The desk had a clock on it, a mug (she didn't know why), a small monitor looking thing, some books in a shelf, and bed above it. There was only one desk, she noted, and to her back was a bunk bed with two hooks for clothes. Sparse bedding was laid out on each, but the top bunk was a complete mess.

"_Tonight's supper will be baked beans, musical program to follow… who wrote this?" _The old wispy male voice floated down from the intercom with a final click.

Tooth threw her knapsack cord on one of the hooks and took off her coat. While she was taking it off she saw one of her old travel bags and a bunch of books with familiar titles stacked in a neat cabinet by the bed.

"Wow, I guess Mr. Genie really did pack everything."

She took another look around and sighed. A little cramped, but it would be fine for now. At least the seasickness had gone away… mostly. Tooth threw her coat by the pipes at the corner of the room hearing a _clink_ when the metal zipper lightly tapped the iron. She stretched, feeling exhausted from the day's events. Astrid woke her up at 5:30 in the morning to get to the ship on time and Tooth had to stand still while the head command droned on for hours about all the safety precautions and rules that needed to be followed. Tooth spent the rest of the day being sick and loading onto the submarine.

She clambered into the small space, almost hitting her head on the metal railing and sighed when she nestled into it. The bed was almost…squishy? And lumpy? She shifted a little and rested her hands by her chest to get rid of an anxious feeling that she was being watched. She closed her eyes and nestled in a little more.

A winding sound came from the top bunk, a shuffle and a little creak. Tooth shooed it away as a "I'm just being paranoid" sound. But then a creepy feeling came over Tooth. Not wanting to peek she kept still, trying to fall asleep. Then there was no sound. She took a deep breath.

_See Tooth? You were just being paranoid._

Then a click sounded and a bright light shocked Tooth awake.

"Ahh!"

She hit her head on the bunk bed and swiveled her eyes to meet another pair, magnified through mechanical goggles. Tooth winced, trying to block the light from her eyes but rub her head at the same time. Was that a flashlight or something? Then a hiss sounded from the person and their eyes narrowed through the goggles.

"You have disturbed the dirt."

_Woah. _

"Uh, pardon me? I didn't touch…"

"YOU HAVE DISTURBED THE DIRT!"

"Ahh!"  
Tooth flew out of her bed and pressed herself against the nearest wall and far away from the short, stout woman in front of her. The woman was cloaked in a heavy trench coat jacket with fur along the color. The coat was too big for her and hid her body shape and feet when she shuffled around. She had bony old hands that peeked out underneath a massive pair of dirty gloves and a square-shaped, wrinkled face that was hidden under a remarkably large pair of goggles. The goggles were attached to some sort of helmet that did nothing to detract from the monstrosity of white frizzy hair. The helmet sported a small lamp and a crank which seemed to swing back and forth every time the woman moved. She was exasperated and she was waving her old arms back and forth like crazy. The woman moved back the sheet to reveal little piles of… actual dirt. There were little flags in each one of them, but most of them were broken and the piles of dirt were scattered. She continued to speak in a slight Scottish accent and moved around in frenzy.

"Dirt from aroun' the globe spanning the centuries! Ahh! What have you done?!"  
The woman moved her gloved hands to a button on her helmet. A little dustpan and brush came out of it and swept up a little pile with a French flag.

"England must never merge with France!"

She swept up the specific piles of dirt and then started placing them in their respective "places". Tooth shook her head, really weirded out.

"What's it doing in my bed?!"

The woman instantly turned to her, forgetting her dirt piles for the moment.

"You ask too many questions! Who are you? Who sent you? Speak up!"

"Me? I'm uh…!"

Before Tooth could even answer, the woman dismissed Tooth with her bony hands and gave a raspberry to the wall.

"Bah! I will know soon enough!"

She grabbed Tooth's hand with a very firm grip.

"Hey! What are you-?"

"Don' be such a crybaby! Hold still! Aha!" She plucked a piece of dirt that had been stuck in Tooth's index finger and turned on her lamplight again. Tooth instantly brought her hand back to her chest once the woman relinquished her grip and touched it, almost to make sure her palm was safe and her fingers were intact. Meanwhile the woman had adjusted a knob on her helmet so that the goggles expanded outwards to meet the microscopic piece of dirt.

"There you are, now tell me your story my little friend."

The woman started to mutter under her breath and Tooth could barely hear what she was saying. But what she did say freaked Tooth out.

"Parchment fibre from the Nile circa 500 B.C., lead pencil number 2, paint flecks of a type used in a government buildings, you have a cat, short-haired Persian 2 years old, third in a litter of seven."

"Wow, you can tell all that from dirt?" Tooth wanted to ask, but the woman adjusted her goggles to zoom in directly on Tooth. She spoke up again.

"These are all the microscopic fingerprints of a mapmaker."

Tooth just kept rubbing her hand. And then the woman _licked _the dirt a couple of times and tasted it in her mouth.

"And… linguist." She leered.

"This is an' outrage!" She yelled, grabbing Tooth's jacket and bag and shoving them on her. She couldn't react as she felt the fingernails dig into her back, pushing her out of the room.

"You must leave at once! Out, out, out, out, out!"

Each time the old woman said "out" she pushed Tooth closer to the door. Until, that is, Tooth bumped into someone. She lifted the coat from her eyes and saw a tall, muscularly built man. A curvy mustache and a short black beard framed a kind but thin face and sharp blue eyes. He looked like he was somewhere in his twenties, but had the brightness of a child in his mischievous irises. His long, ragged turtleneck was red and his hair was black and curly. He stood about two feet taller than Tooth and rolled his eyes with a grin.

"Uh-oh, sat in dirt did you?"

He had a thick Russian accent. Tooth nodded slightly. He smiled as if he knew something and crossed his arms, addressing the dirt obsessed woman.

"Witch Moliere, now what have I told you about playing nice with other kids?"

"But I was going to use th' dirt for my wood carvings! She shouldn't have touched them!"

Tooth, still with the jacket on her head, looked at the woman. So this was Witch Moliere? The excavations expert?

Witch seemed to want to push him out-of-the-way as well, but he pulled something out of the large bag he was carrying. It was… a bar of soap?

"Get back. I got soap and I am not afraid to use."

He hovered the soap closer to her face and she hissed, scrambling for her bed. The man seemed to get into it.

"Back, foul creature! Back to the pit from which you came!"

Witch curled up in her little ball of sheets, the only thing visible being the lamplight, a pair of eyes, and a small hint of her boot. Tooth made a mental note to hang soap all around the edges of her bed and turned to address the man. But he addressed her first.

"The name is North. Nicholas North, medical officer." He shook her small hand with vigor and only as he was saying it did she realize the stethoscope and doctor's bag he was carrying. He moved to the desk and opened the doctor's bag, pulling out various materials.

"Yeah? Toothiana Thatch." Tooth replied.

"Toothiana Thatch? You were my three o' clock. I am to visit all rooms to check if people are healthy for voyage, but everybody was so I am here early. Well, no time like present." He pulled out a gigantic saw from the bag and Tooth almost fell over.

"Oh boy."

"Nice no?" North continued. "Catalogue says this can saw through femur in 28 second, but I can cut that time in half." He put away the saw and pulled out a thing that looked like a nail file but was used to examine throats. Now, stick out tongue and say 'ahh'." Tooth let her bag fall out of her arms and her jacket fell on top of that. She put her hands forward and shook them a little.

"Uh, no I'm not really-!"

He looked in her mouth quickly while speaking.

"So, where you from?"

"Ah bluh bluh bluh." Tooth couldn't really say much but he continued to talk anyway. He replaced the nail file thing with a thermometer that he stuck into her mouth and he put the stethoscope to the area above her chest.

"Oh really? I have family up way. Beautiful country there. Do you do any fishing perhaps?"

Tooth shrugged her shoulders wanting to say "you have no idea what I'm saying do you?"

But he apparently took the warbled speech as "not really. What about you?"

"Me? I hate fishing. I hate fish. Hate taste, smell, all little bones, they just always get into teeth."

While he was talking at two million miles per minute he was checking Tooth's blood pressure, her pulse, looking at a watch, and then he pulled out two huge beakers that were larger than Tooth's head and shoulders!

"Here, I need you to fill these up."

She spit out the thermometer.

"With what?!"

_Click _

"_Will Toothiana Thatch please report to the bridge?"_

She breathed in deep realizing that she wouldn't be subjected to any more medical examinations for the moment. Doctors had always freaked her out a little, especially as a kid, and that didn't change now, even though she was 20 years old. She muttered under her breath "thank you" and ran a hand through her hair. North looked a little confused and Tooth turned around.

"I –uh- mean nice meeting you!"

And she rushed out to get to bridge as soon as possible.

"Nice meeting you too!" North called back, Moliere behind him.

"I think that girl's a wee bit strange."

North looked at Witch.

"That's right you prefer to be called "Mole". It has been a long time old friend." He pat her on the head and she shooed his hand away.

"And the first thing ya' do is threaten me with soap, my worst enemy."

"Aw, it cannot hurt to take bath every now and again."

Mole shook her head and North sighed.

"I can believe that Toothiana has potential. I can see wonder behind her eyes. Like when _you_ dig gigantic hole in earth."

"Hmphf. She sat in the dirt. I do not like her yet."

North shook his head as Mole moved back to the dirt piles to fix them. He was still smiling.

* * *

The old communications room was tinged with a blue light, the sound of constant beeping and the smell of fresh dumplings. The compact room's occupant, a small, colorfully robed man, was sitting in a chair and talking through a headset. His hair was white for the most part, only the edges tinged with little flecks of red from when he was younger. He used chopsticks to eat the latter half of the dumpling, listening to the person on the other line and careful to not pick up the long ends of his moustache.

"So I said to him what's wrong with my meatloaf? Because Po eats anything. So he said to me—oh."

One of the blue lights attached to the monitor that Shifu was sitting at started to glow blue and buzz.

"Hang on Mr. Ping, I have another call." He flicked on a switch that stopped the buzzing and addressed Pitch.

"Sir, we're approaching coordinates." He flicked off the switch and stuffed another dumpling in his mouth.

"Hello? Mr. Ping? Yes, well anyways I was wondering if you could tell me a recipe-"

* * *

Tooth formed herself through the port-hole like door and listened to the intercom fade out.

Were they just talking about recipes? But then Pitch's voice drifted down from above her and Tooth hurried up the stairs, trying not to trip over the wiring and the pipelines that were wrapped near the staircase.

"Alright, let's have a look around." He said, his commanding yet malicious voice haunting the air.

Tooth came out to the main control room and tried to take in all the people working on the massive ship. Then Astrid's voice came through the platform and Tooth hurried up more stairs to reach them in time, hoping she wasn't late.

"Aye, sir." She was addressing Pitch. "Set course for 2-4-0." A rebound sounded from one of the officers down below.

"Aye!"

She continued. "50 degrees down angle on the bow planes. Come right 2-4-0."

Another rebound of "Aye sir!" drifted up strongly from the platform but was lost to steam let out from one of the pipes. Tooth peeked out at the platform and was greeted by a slender grey hand.

"Welcome to the bridge Ms. Thatch."

Pitch moved his hand away before Tooth could shake it and she awkwardly stood in the middle of the massive platform with her hand raised. She quickly put her hands behind her back and looked at who Pitch was addressing.

"Alright everybody, I want you to give Toothiana your undivided attention."

Oh great.

Tooth adjusted the collar of her shirt.

"Uh, hi, hello there." She squeaked. "Can-can everybody hear me okay?"

It was Bunnymund, who she ticked off earlier, Witch (how did she get up there that fast!?), and… oh who was it? Katherine the engine's expert! She had dark brown hair that was very curly and that tousled over her shoulders. She was wearing overalls and a white-collared shirt with long sleeves that almost seemed too big for her but were fitting in an odd way. Her eyes were gray and bright but… she looked bored to say the least. She was evidently chewing gum and her eyes slanted with a look that said "get on with it". There were two more crew members. A boy with a lot of freckles and red hair and a boy wearing all black were also staring at her weirdly. Astrid was watching but she was twirling her handgun and sighing deeply in annoyance.

Tooth looked to the side and cleared her throat a little.

"So, uh… how 'bout some slides?"

Katherine blew a bubble with her gum that popped in the air, emphasizing the silence.

Okay then.

Tooth moved to her knapsack that she brought with her and rummaged around to get the slides. She was letting her nerves get the best of her and she spent a little more time getting the slides then she thought. Bunnymund and Katherine looked at each other.

"Okay okay." Tooth said. "The-the first slide is a depiction of a creature, a creature so frightening that sailors were said to be driven mad by the mere sight of it."

She put the slide into the projector which was powered by a candle. But when she looked up, it was a picture of her on her last mini vacation to the beach. She was in an out-of-date swimsuit and waving to a stranger who of which she asked to take the picture. She had a dinosaur tube floatie on and snorkeling gear and she looked a little ridiculous.

Tooth heard giggles around the room and she was quick to remove the slide.  
"Heehh, I'm sorry, that's…wrong."

A comment came from Katherine.

"Geez… I used to take lunch money from people like this." Bunnymund chuckled and Tooth tried to ignore her blush by putting in another slide. The right one this time. A picture of the page from the Journal projected on the large chalkboard, showing a pictographic silhouette of a lobster like creature biting into a ship that was much smaller in size.

"Alright, _this_ is an illustration of the Leviathan, the creature guarding the entrance to Atlantis."

"With something like that I would have white wine I think." Bunnymund interrupted.

Tooth glared at him but shrugged it off and continued on with the presentation, moving her hands along with her speech.

"It's a mythical sea serpent. He's described as having lightning shoot out from its mouth and having massive claws that crack open ships but it's probably just a carving or a sculpture to frighten the superstitious."

She put her hands behind her back and quietly shuffled in her place. After all she had never given a presentation before in front of people who actually stayed and listened. The museum people always stopped her before her presentation was finished and when she asked them if they had any questions, shaking of heads and leaving of seats told her otherwise.

"So we find the entrance to Atlantis? And then what?"

Tooth looked over at Pitch when he spoke but she didn't meet his eyes. She wanted to avoid those for as long as possible.

"And then we dig!" Witch raised her hands as if she could almost feel the dirt in between her fingers.

Tooth shook her head and closed off the slide, exposing the white chalkboard underneath. She picked up a black piece of charcoal and turned back to Witch.

"Actually," She said, pointing to her. "We don't have to dig. You see,"

Tooth started drawing quick, clean lines. No one stopped her as she explained and she got a little more confident as each stroke was put down on the board. She drew squiggly lines for waves and a straight line underneath it that made a curvy "L" shape into a large bubble.

"According to the Journal, the path to Atlantis will take us down a tunnel at the bottom of the ocean, a secret hideaway that the Shepherd who wrote the Journal found. He says that traders were smuggling goods but the tunnel was already built. I don't know what for but a very intriguing page… uh, anyways,"

Tooth drew more waves in the air bubble that she made to show water and a little torpedo like drawing to show the submarine.

"We'll come up this curve into an air pocket right here, where we'll find the remnants of an ancient highway that will lead us to Atlantis. Oh! It's kind of like the grease trap in your sink."

She looked back at the audience who seemed a little keener on listening. Tooth fiddled with her pant pockets. Astrid spoke to Pitch.

"Cartographer, linguist, and a plumber. Hard to believe she's still single." Astrid twirled the gun in her hand and put it in its holster at her hip. Pitch gave a smile. Slight, but a smile.

Tooth narrowed her eyes. Witch pulled at the hem of Astrid's sleeve.

"But you said there would be digging." She whined.

"Go away Mole." Astrid flicked her hand in Mole's direction and rolled her eyes.

"Captain, I think you better have a look at this!"

A man from another platform attached to the main one looked back at the group, some form of terror on his face. Pitch swung his head around and motioned for Tooth to come look as well as Astrid.

"Very well, class dismissed."

He put his hands behind his back in a general-like manner and walked up to the other platform. Already up there was the person who had given the shout out and the diving officer. The diving officer had a golden robe on and spiked up orange hair. His features were rounded and kind and he shook Tooth's hand with a calloused but soft grip when she came up to the platform. He air spelled "Sandy" and pointed to himself, then he looked at the man steering a large wheel. Tooth cocked her head. Did he not speak? Sandy wasn't smiling. He looked extremely concerned in fact. Tooth had to bend down to shake his hand, but when she came back up she couldn't see much out in the water.

What was wrong?

"Turn on the exterior lights." Pitch ordered.

The man turning the wheel flicked on a number of controls, and two very bright lights put forth into view something that turned Tooth's stomach over.

It was a graveyard, an enormous graveyard of ships. Tooth quickly moved to the front and stared into the thick of the wrecked masses. They had all different types of wood and insignias. Tooth grabbed some lose hair that was falling out from her bun and stroked it to calm down.

"Look at that." Astrid sounded horrified. Tooth couldn't see Pitch's reaction, but for the most part he didn't seem so disturbed. Tooth spoke up.

"There are ships here from every era."

* * *

Outside the submarine the lights searched. They moved over all the broken pieces and the hulking masses that were once high sailing vessels. The lights shifted over another broken piece and moved forward as the ship did, leaving only a trail of sound behind.

But that wasn't a broken piece.

It was attached to something.

And that something moved.


	6. Chapter 5

**Here is basically the second part of chapter 4 but I felt the action deserved its own chapter. I hope you enjoy! **

* * *

Chapter 5 – The Leviathan

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Shifu finished the last dumpling. His ears pricked at the noise coming from the blinking button to his left and he flicked the switch on. Radio static flooded his ears and he turned a knob so he could hear louder or rather, check if he was hearing correctly. He was. It was a strange noise, one that needed to be looked at right away.

"Commander, I think you should hear this."

* * *

"…predeshtēm logtu nug nah geb" Tooth finished. By the time she had begun reading, everybody else had moved back into their prospective positions

She was reading from the Journal, which she had brought along with her in her bag. Ever since she had it, she barely let it out of her reach. She knew that she was pronouncing it wrong but seeing as how the language had been gone for about ten thousand years, the first hurdle was getting over the lettering. Tooth realized that the sentence structure was extremely similar to boustrophedon, where every other sentence was backwards. Tooth couldn't help smiling while she was reading it, even though she heard Astrid snort over her shoulder and could practically see her roll her eyes.

"_Commander… Commander." _

Tooth continued, not noticing that the intercom was on.

"Enter the layer of the…leviathan…there you find a path to the… gateway. There!"

She tapped the book's placeholder and shut it, turning to Pitch as he looked up.

"Yes Mr. Shifu?"

"I'm picking up something on the hydrophone I think you should hear. It is quite concerning."

"Put it on speakers then."

_Click_

Groaning and whooshing sounds flew through the speakers and filled the whole deck. The people down below looked up in fright and even Pitch seemed a little surprised. They all looked around at the outside trying to find what was making such a horrible noise. There was nothing, but the sounds pursued to echo off the metal piping and iron rigging, coming back to haunt the people in the control room.

Pitch, Astrid, and Sandy opened the door into the communications space down below and Tooth followed. She had nowhere else to go, and she was very curious as to what the sound was.

"What is it?" She heard Pitch ask. "A pod of whales?"

Shifu shook his head, and Tooth could see his wrinkled eyebrows furrowing, trying to figure it out.

"No. Bigger."

What can be bigger than a pod of whales? Tooth shuffled a bit, feeling very vulnerable out in the open space and she tried to move to see what was on the monitor. Astrid leaned in and turned the knob.

"It sounds metallic… It could be an echo off one of the rocks…"

"Is that just me or is that getting louder?" Tooth wanted to contribute to the conversation but was scared saying it.

Then, just as it was loudest it faded out into nothing.

"Well, whatever it was…" Astrid flicked her bangs to the side. "It's gone now…"

Another second passed. Nothing. Pitch turned to the man steering.

"Helmsman, bring us about. Tighten up our search pattern and slow us to-!"

The submarine crashed and a collective scream could be heard around the control room. People were flung side to side. Tooth had been flung to the floor, along with Astrid and Pitch. Shifu had avoided falling due to an expert motion that let him balance on his chair.

* * *

The warning bells in the lower decks began to go off at an alarming pace and Katherine quickly shoved the book she was reading in her overall's pocket, zipping it up while running at full speed to the port. The ship was sideways at this point and she almost had to run on the wall.

"Out of the way!"

The submarine shuddered again under another massive crash, and a loud roar, not needing the hydrophone, cascaded into the iron. Another hit to the submarine's hull shook everyone to the point where they couldn't stand, no matter how strong their legs. Katherine's only method of staying on her feet was to grab a pipe and move quickly to the railing. Then she looked below at the people screaming at the on take of water.

Her face hardened.

* * *

"Tell Gobber to melt butter and bring out bibs I want this lobster served up on a silver platter!"

Pitch, recovered, along with Astrid, scrambled to keep on their feet while they got a full view of the gigantic Leviathan that was hurtling itself towards the ship. The monster must have been hundreds of stories tall and the claws on it were enormous.

"Load the torpedo bays! Sub-pod crews! Battle stations! AHH!"

Astrid was flung onto the nearest pipes and Pitch fell over again. The people who were trying to follow Astrid's orders were tossed everywhere but they managed to get into the pods and launch out into the open.

"Steady! Don't panic!" Pitch got through over the intercom.  
By this time the Leviathan had the end of the ship in one of its claws and it shook the ship. Tooth fell onto the glass dome; not knowing which way was up. She heard the _thud_ her body made on the glass and she got up, disoriented. But what she looked at next was terrifying. A gigantic metallic eye was gleaming at her.

"Oh my god! It's a machine!"

The eye narrowed as Tooth tried to get up and run but the submarine shook as another metallic wave of sound came crashing down in the ship and Tooth faltered again before grabbing onto the railing.

* * *

Katherine's breath was quick as she moved the wheel with all her strength, trying to ignore the calls of "Wait!" as she forced her crew members to run as she shut off the gateway to the surging water. One crew member was trapped inside as the gateway closed in a splash but there was no way Katherine could save him. They would all be dead soon if they didn't do anything! Not that there was much they could do.

* * *

Pitch was hanging on to the railing as the submarine received another shock.

"Launch subpods!" He yelled.

* * *

The sub-pods flew out of the compartments to the sea and made a roundabout turn for the Leviathan. Pitch shouted on radio to fire. Some were scared, others were determined as they launched their missiles at the metallic beast trying to consume their ship. The Leviathan let go, surprised at the rebound.

* * *

"We're free. All ahead full." Pitch commanded. The helmsman and another struggled to turn the wheels as fast as possible to steer clear of the massive creature. The ship sped off at a speed Tooth didn't think possible. The Leviathan, finding that its prey was getting away, focused on destroying its attackers. The subpods were being decimated. Pitch looked back and then turned to Sandy's crew.

"Fire Torpedoes!" He shouted.

* * *

The great mechanical Leviathan was in full terrorizing view as the launched torpedoes came flying towards it in the water. The bursts of explosions that Tooth saw barely left a scratch on the creature. It just shook its clanging body and then ELECTRICTY SHOT OUT OF ITS MOUTH AND HURTLED TOWARDS THE SHIP!

Toot screamed as the bolt of lightning ripped through the hull of the submarine.

* * *

Katherine stopped closing off the next gateway when dozens of bolts came flying towards her, unable to handle the pressure of the ocean now that the ship was in critical condition. Gas from some of the pipelines started to escape into the room she was in and she hurried up the ladder to a hatch where people were waiting to close it off.

"Get me the bridge!" She yelled as strong arms helped her so that she could run right away. The two, Hiccup and Toothless, closed off the hatch completely and raced to catch up with her.

"Sir, Its engineering on 4." Shifu said, looking for his staff. Pitch blinked and then switched on the intercom.

"_Pitch!" _Pitch winced at the sound of the incessant alarms coming through the speakers. _"We took a big hit down here, and we're taking on water fast! I don't want to be around when it hits the boilers!" _

"How much time do we have?"

"_Twenty minutes if bulkhead holds."_

Hiccup and Toothless looked at each other and winced as Katherine said "if the bulkhead holds" because it just blew up. They tapped her shoulder quickly and she turned back to the intercom.

"Better make that 5 minutes."

* * *

Pitch turned around to the crew.

"You heard her! Let's move!"

Tooth looked around at the people running; she had finally gotten on her feet.

"Move? Move where!?"

Two people shoved her, a woman with short brown hair and a man with combed-back hair, into a hidden sub-pod compartment.

* * *

"Shifu sound the alarm!" Astrid called.

He got his staff and moved it in a series of swift motions. He was also finishing his talk with Mr. Ping.

"Shifu!"

"I have to call you back."

"SHIFU!"

"No, I'll call you."

* * *

Alarms were everywhere and everything was dizzyingly shaking as Tooth hurtled herself through the shifting doors, banging her shoulders and feet on the metal every time the submarine twisted another way.

Tooth saw Astrid, who had hopped down to the hatch she was lifting (apparently that was the sub pod), and she held on to the railing as the ship gave another violent shake. The Leviathan was literally ripping the submarine to pieces.

"Move it people! Sometime TODAY would be nice!" Astrid screamed.

Tooth jumped in and saw that North was right behind her, Katherine in front. Mini-submarine? This was a submarine in and of itself. There were seats and belt buckles and Astrid quickly pointed to them then ran up to the captain's seat, where Pitch was.

"C'mon! Everybody grab a seat and buckle in!"

Hiccup and Toothless were in the seats opposite, along with the short-haired woman and man who had shoved Tooth in the right direction earlier. If this wasn't an "I'm gonna die" situation, Tooth would have probably said "thank you".

Well it _was_ an "I'm gonna die" situation, and there was no time for that.

"Lieutenant, get us out of here!" Pitch buckled in.

They could hear the Leviathan as it got ready to deal a last blow to the submarine.

"Lieutenant!"

Astrid couldn't get the lever to launch them out of the ship.

"I'm working on it!" She shouted, trying to shove all her weight to the lever. It barely moved.

A roar could be heard outside, and the swish of the Leviathan's massive mechanical tail as it came speeding towards them.

"Lieutenant!"

Astrid kicked the lever and it switched. Tooth felt the power with which the mini-sub was shot out of the ship and clutched her bag as they sped off into the ocean.

"Hang on!" Astrid looked back. There were more than one mini-sub that got shot out of the submarine, but Tooth had a feeling that not everybody got on.

Just then the main submarine exploded.

The Leviathan came speeding out of the rubble and vaporized metal, its gleaming red mechanical eyes fixed on the mini subs that escaped its grasp.

The mini-sub that Tooth was in shook as something hit the top of it. Everybody was being thrown around like paper dolls. The hit was probably caused by debris from the exploded submarine and Tooth felt sick.

"Where to Ms. Thatch?!" A call from Pitch brought her out of her thoughts for a second. She flipped rapidly through the Journal.

"We're looking for a big crevice of some kind!" She shouted back.

Pitch saw a gigantic crack in the earth. He glanced down at the coordinates that Tooth had mentioned earlier. They were correct.

"There!" He pointed to the crevice and Astrid spoke to the radio.

"All craft, make your mark 20 degrees down angle!"

"_Rodger! 20 degrees down angle!" _Someone replied.

Then Tooth heard Mole's voice.

"_Right behind you!"_

But Tooth also heard the Leviathan. This thing didn't give up! An explosion sounded from one of the ships.

"_We're getting killed out here!" _

Tooth closed her eyes as the subs made the degree turn downwards and she heard the Leviathan crash into the narrow crevice. Another lightning bolt came shooting out of its maw and into a small mini-sub, killing whoever was on board. The Leviathan's body had crashed into the rocks and caused some of them to fall on the subs, leaving Tooth shaking.

Another sub exploded and the others started crashing into the narrow passageway, trying to avoid the debris.

"It's only a grease trap just like a sink! It's only a grease trap just like a sink!"

Tooth was freaking out, clutching on to her bag as her only source of comfort. Lightning rained down on the subs as the Leviathan tried to get as many as it could.

Then Tooth felt the sharp turn upwards and the shaking as the submarine tried to fit through the narrow and rocky tunnel without crashing. It bumped into the wall many times, Astrid trying to move as quickly as she could to avoid a catastrophe. The glass almost burst open and Tooth squeezed her eyes shut. But then a gentle pull came over the subs and before she knew it, they surfaced.

Tooth was hoisted out of the ship by Astrid who had climbed to the top. She helped the others get out while Tooth looked around in the dark cave, the only source of light being the other subs and a spotlight that Astrid turned on. She moved it to the left and illuminated a colossal cave, a fish headed entrance leading to a passageway, just like Tooth had said...

* * *

A plethora of trucks that were stowed away on the subs were waiting to be driven while the group stood gathered by the edge of the walkway, hearts calmed down from the encounter with the Leviathan. Now fast beating hearts were replaced by slow ones, steady. All of them contemplating what had happened. All of them sad.

North put a hat with a burning candle in it to the still water and gave it a gentle push. It traveled out to the center of the cave slowly, as if to honor the dead itself. Pitch took a deep breath.

"Seven hours ago we started this expedition with 200 of the finest men and women I have ever known."

He looked back at the group of about 38 people.

"We're all that's left… I won't use any euphemisms gentlemen, ladies… we have a crisis on our hands."

Everybody looked at the floor and hung their heads. Most of the crew members had been friends of theirs. And now they were gone. North patted Katherine's shoulder. Bunnymund and Witch only looked at each other. Hiccup was just staring at the ground, and Toothless was looking at the ceiling. The people who had helped Tooth earlier, Rapunzel and Eugene, they were named at the sound off, looked at each other. Sandy twiddled his thumbs and shook his head. Gobber just stared into the distance at the candle while the men in gas masks stood behind them looking at Pitch.

Tooth could only blink slowly. She had barely known any of the people who had died… but knowing what it is like to lose someone was enough. Her thoughts drifted back to her parents and of all the times she wished they would come back and play with her again. She pushed the loose hair back from her face and sighed, blinking rapidly so she wouldn't give way to tears. Pitch continued.

"But we've been up this particular river before, and we have always come through, paddle or no paddle… I see no reason to change that policy now… From here on in, everyone pulls double duty, everyone drives, everyone works…"

As he turned to Tooth, everyone else did too.

"Looks like all our chances for survival rest with you Ms. Thatch…You and that little book."

Tooth looked at the Shepherd's Journal in her hands, a slight air of confidence straggling into her heart with a whole lot of responsibility attached. Shifu looked off to the massive fish headed passageway.

"We're all going to die…"

Pitch called out.

"Okay people saddle up! Lieutenant I want this convoy moving 5 minutes ago!"

Everybody started moving to their respective positions, to their trucks and cars. Tooth made for an unoccupied one. Astrid started giving out orders.

"Moliere you're on point! No, Bunny! Katherine's taking the oiler, you know the rules, I want you 50 yards behind that truck at all times. And Shifu, save the dumplings for later."

* * *

Pitch turned to one of the masked men in the truck behind him.

"Whatever you do," He whispered. "Do not let Toothiana see your face. Do not speak to her. It could put the whole mission in jeopardy. Do you copy?"

The monkey faced man put his mask on, scar over his eyes where Haroom had fought him years ago, before Haroom and Rashmi's last minutes.

"Loud and clear boss."

"Good… That's what I like to hear."

Pitch could hear honking from one of the trucks that Tooth had taken a fancy to. He rolled his eyes and went over to her to tell her to stop.

The monkey faced man shifted his mask one more time before starting up his truck, looking at Tooth with a loathing he hadn't felt in years.


	7. Chapter 6

**The last few months have been a different kind of busy… I haven't been able to get anything done! **

**You guys deserve more updates. I'm sorry. **

**: ( **

**Well I hope you like what I've written!**

* * *

Chapter 6- The journey there … Part 1

_Honk. Honk honk honk honk hoonkkk._

Tooth had never owned her own car before, so being able to honk the horn on the side was almost a luxury and she couldn't help her deep smiling until Pitch came up and squeezed the horn. She drew away her hand and curled her body back as Pitch ripped off the horn and threw it to the ground with an exasperated expression. He looked extremely annoyed.

"Are you sure you're checked out on this classification of vehicle?"

Tooth looked to the ground and back at Pitch. She tried to sound out a response in her head, but all the words got jumbled and all she could say was "Uhmm."

Pitch rolled his eyes.

"Can you drive a truck?"

Tooth didn't know whether to lie or to say no.

"Pfft! Heh heh, of _course_ I can drive a truck!"

His eyes narrowed.

Tooth stepped in, settling into the leather seat, and tried to show Pitch she knew what she was doing…because she had no clue. She never owned a car before, she never had the money. So to actually be sitting in one and by herself?! It was pretty cool. But… She never owned a truck before. She had seen other people drive, never herself.

"I mean, sure, you got your steering…" she moved the steering wheel around a little bit, feeling it in her hands for emphasis.

"And your gas…" She touched a pedal with her foot and put a hand on her chin to think for a second. She hoped she was hitting the gas pedal (she hit the brake).

"Oh! And your break… And then this…" She looked at the stick shift to her right.

"… metal uh, thingy…"

Pitch was just looking at her with annoyance.

"Okay, so it was a bumper car in Coney Island! Same basic principle!"

He gave an exasperated sigh and moved off.

"Ah, shoot." _Screech _"Whoops" _Skid _"Ah, uh…"

A cacophony of complaints dashed in with the angry sound of horns came from behind her.

"Sorry!" She called back to the crew. She had been stopping and going (screeching and skidding and stopping was more like it), obviously not that in tuned with a stick shift. Witch's head shot out of the side of her gigantic digging truck and she honked the horn twice. Seeing as how she owned the largest truck she quickly swiveled her head around.

"Is everybody okay with me driving in front? I don't care cause I'm gonna do it anywa's!"

Ten minutes later, Tooth's car was roped to the back of the digger and being dragged along the rocky path. Tooth sighed and rested her hand on her cheek, moving the steering wheel back and forth with the other.

The inner mouth of the lost cave had hundreds of stalagmites resting at the top. Occasionally, one of the crew would see water drops fall from the ceiling and onto their vehicles. Some joked about the possibility of using their windshield wipers.

As the light from the trucks and vans made clear the columns and structure that went into the cave, Tooth couldn't help but be distracted from her driving predicament and took a second to jot down what she saw. Everything was _massive. _Beautiful architecture and sculpture, even in the lines of the columns there were eddies of handwork and detail.

As the journey kept going on in the first couple of days, Tooth found that no one visited her in her vehicle cabin, except to give her food. There were no directions to be pointed out yet. It was mainly a clear and straight road so people left her alone for now.

She slouched in her seat often, looking at what she had left over in her bag from the sunken submarine, her only view in front being the back of the digger. A few books, some of her favorites, were still intact, not to mention the Journal, so that was good. She leafed through some of her papers that were stuffed in the folds of documents between the books. Other things had settled to the bottom of the bag, and Tooth made work of dumping it all out and organizing it so that she could access everything better. There was really nothing else to do. She found an old comb carved from the bones of an animal that she used every day in the boiler room. Some inexpensive jewelry. A couple of worn journals sorted in with new ones. A feather from a hummingbird. And a watch… that was waterlogged.

Tooth sighed and slumped down in her seat a little more, feeling her clothes stick to her, wanting to rest. The heat of the vehicle gas had made her too warm and she couldn't really get comfortable. Wondering if things would have been any different if the submarine had survived she shifted back up into her seat and looked out the window to the side mirror, taking out her tightly knit bun. Her hair fell over her shoulders and onto her back. It felt nice and she wondered about the last time she had her hair down. She looked at her reflection in the side mirror, catching a glimpse of all the crew lined up behind her. Almost all the other cars had 2 or more people in them. They talked sometimes, other times they were silent, perhaps remembering the lost crew members. A pang of resentment came into her and she stared at the car behind her for a long time, until the boy with red brown hair and freckles with his black haired counterpart flicked their eyes up, realizing that they were being watched.

Tooth spun her head back and blushed a little bit; pretending that never happened and went to looking around.

After about another hour of searching the endless cave workings she yawned. She wished her watch worked and she could know what time it was. All of the sun's rays had disappeared in the cave and there was no way to tell time and once the lights from the trucks had vanished, Tooth couldn't see her hand in front of her face, no matter how much her eyes adjusted to the dark.

As days turned into weeks, the food had begun to be rationed, Gobber being very strict about not giving out seconds...until that backfired and he started making "lil'creations" that would keep for weeks (after that no one really ate, but they kept the water handy).

Tooth kept to herself when people pitched tent. She preferred to sleep on the outskirts or in her truck where no one could talk to her when she was studying the Journal. It was complicated. A whole mechanism of words that were waiting to reveal their story to her. After a point, talking to anyone became more of habit while reading in the Journal became an adventure. Her eyes searched the passageways, hints and clues that the shepherd had written long ago. She compared notes and her feelings on the side notes the shepherd had written. She compared it to her texts from her other books and as days turned into weeks she became more and more involved.

After a little while, when they had to lower the trucks into the bottom of a misty cavern where no one knew where to go, did they ask Tooth to finally get out of her vehicle and check. The stalactites on the ground were at least the size of the tallest men or higher, the highest being the one that was competing with the digger. Tooth shakily got out of her car and stretched her legs. They had been driving for a couple hours now and nearing the middle of the third week. Thankfully, many changes of clothes for everybody were saved in one of the supply trucks, and Tooth was in a better suited outfit for the little bits of increasing cold. Tooth wantonly compared it to fall weather and thought about the fiery leaves back at home, then how she had to go down into the boiler room and not see them. Her light pants bunched up nicely, a little baggy but nonetheless comfortable. Her cardigan sifted over her fingers as she picked up the Journal lovingly in her fingertips then flipped the pages until she saw what she had remembered about the cave they were in. It was called "_Sa le né shiÂn" _The Cave of Collected Dreams. It was a belief in the time when the shepherd wrote the Journal (yes to Tooth's amazement she found a date inside the front cover) that dreams collected in fog. And if you reached out then you could collect others dreams in your own hands and you would have them the next night.

Tooth read the Journal out to everybody with a slurred accent.

"Ki be… na sham sha ö…. wé ba… et col egan tus mos."

Her excited eyed flitted up to them but they looked at her with a blank expression until she realized they didn't know Atlantean.

"Uh… I meant… Go to the back of the cave. A right passage there leads to another tunnel. I think." She gave out a small smile.

Bunnymund looked a little impressed, so did Katherine and North, but before they could ask any questions Pitch said "That is all." And they disbanded back into their vehicles, Katherine looking back for just a second before clambering in her truck with Bunnymund.

After they sifted through the many stalactites, with frequent questions for Tooth, they got to the back entrance, not noticing the bioluminescent bugs that were hidden on the moist floor. They moved out of the way of the strange newcomers and whispered to each other in their own tongue. The small chattering of bugs was unnoticeable to the group of trucks, the sound was drowned out by the rumbling engines. However, if the engines hadn't been going on, surely at least one of them (probably Rapunzel because she was good with animals) would have heard. The little buzzing noises weaved in and out through the cave, making the floor almost breathe. A collective breath that was drowned out by the gas, but it was still there.

"_Who are these things that interrupt ourselves? They seem to bring us ill intent."_

"_Does the king not know about this? Look at those guns, such horrible cement."_

"_Warning we must give to Atlantis. These things are disturbing us, they must repent."_

"_Warning we must, but how do we give? We can only move in increment."_

There was much discussion before they decided to go to the flying moths of the cave.

"_Shalazar Ombic, find and warn._

_People come with guns of steel_

_War is such unhelpful scorn._

_Atlantis people must steal." _

The moths understood little glowworm, but they were willing to go to Ombric and warn the capital, for he was well versed in the language of bugs.

At the back of the cave there was an elevated roadway that came up to what Tooth called the "small skull drawing." Well that small drawing, just like the small drawing of the leviathan, turned out to be a massive two story high skeleton head. The two eyes were the passageways. They jutted out from the surface of the carved rocks with menacing rivets and a daunting hollowness in each eye. Tooth looked at the Journal again. The skull was to put there to scare people who wanted to come to Atlantis at the time of war. Seeing as they had no way to go back to, and this wasn't war times, Tooth looked at the journal upside-down to read the boustrophedon orientation, not afraid.

_Oh, it says go left?_

She read the sentence again.

_Okay yeah, left._

She pointed to the left eye with a large smile and the trucks started to shuffle in until a colossal worm came out of its hiding place, exasperated that the group had woken it up from its nap. And when colossal isn't a good enough adjective, it was literally as tall as the whole skeleton head.

It looked like a monster from a horror movie, its gigantic pincers and legs scraping at the digger, which was first and everyone yelled and fled backwards to safety. The worm shrunk back into the hole when the machines were no longer threatening its home, only its white eyes glowing from the darkness.

Once Tooth had gotten over her surprise she turned the book the other way. She saw why the symbol didn't look like a left symbol… Because it was a right one. Tooth hunched her shoulders, closed the book and sheepishly pointed to the right. Everybody was steaming, especially Witch, who was frantically breathing as if she had run a marathon. The rest were just shaking their head, even Gobber looked annoyed.

After that, Tooth triple checked her Journal's orientation and writing _before_ she made a decision on the direction.

Once they had gotten past the skull headed entrance, it led to a longer stretch of caverns that led to an even bigger stretch of winding roads and enclosed spaces.

* * *

Jack flitted in and out through the walls, letting his curved feet and sense of intuition guide him to the workings of the cave. It had been about a month since he left with his friends, and they were drawing closer and closer to Atlantis every day, no relevant findings of the human world that would complete Jack's transporter and lift the sunken Atlantean city into the light.

As the days wore on and their food started to run low, Jack got more and more worried. He wouldn't be able to make another trip like this again in a long long time, and by then the culture would have died out. He silently thought as his friends raced ahead, eager to get closer to their friends and families back at home with each passing day. He wasn't so happy.

His father would try to get him to marry someone. "Settle down" "Start a family" "carry on my legacy before I pass." No no no no nope just no.

Jack did _not_ want to get married yet… Even though he was ten thousand years old and older… There was never anyone at home who clicked with him and… he just didn't want to do it!

And then Emma would probably try to kill him, he knew he left her with their father's sponge baths. Jack giggled at that. He loved the "no rules" category of being on his own.

He was so deep in thought that he missed the low lights of the trucks down below.

The low lights of the trucks that carried exactly what he needed.

* * *

Tooth gratefully slurped in the water and closed the lid, twisting it like her old toothpaste cap.

"You didn't just drink that did 'ja?"

She turned around and nodded at Bunnymund, some water still in her mouth.

"That's not good that's nitroglycerin." Tooth spun around and spat out what was in her mouth. She started freaking out until Bunnymund put out his hand with a worried expression on his face.

"Don't move." Tooth stopped moving, sort of, and settled down a little. She didn't know what nitroglycerin tasted like! It could have been just like water.

"Eh, don't breath, don't do anything. Except pray maybe."

That "maybe" was drowned out by a loud "BOOO!" right from behind her. Tooth screamed and jumped in the air, covering her head with her coat for protection, hearing the Australian and the Scottish woman laugh in the distance.

Yeah. It took a couple of days to get over that one.

Tooth had gotten used to looking around and walking on foot, now that the tunnels were narrower and a couple of vehicles had run out of gas. She touched the sienna stained tunnel, trying not to be claustrophobic as she read the Journal with vigor, trying to figure out the next landmark.

The extent of the cave was just dragging on and on and on and _on. _There seemed to be no end to it, but Tooth knew they were getting closer, she just knew it. Each day was a new chapter in the Journal and the length of the ending pages was getting thinner and thinner while the journey was getting harder. A good thing actually; the closer they got to Atlantis, it would be obvious that there was a harder road to protect it.

At a particularly high hill, the trucks (especially the digger) had to use massive amounts of gas to get up, so everybody except for those who were driving had to get up and walk. North helped up the last remaining. Bunnymund, then Witch, then Katherine all hopped up onto the ledge but then left towards the digger, leaving Tooth to climb up on her own.

* * *

Jack was dangling from the rock face by one arm, much to his friends' distress. But far from crying for help, Jack was trying to understand the warbles of a little glowworm. He swore it was trying to talk to him so he thought it was a good idea to get closer.

But all he heard was warbles from the other ledge. Nothing that could possibly be words. But it seemed strange to him that the "words" he heard were almost like a conversation, rising and falling and stopping, trying to get Jack to pick up on a sentence. He strained his ears for a few more minutes before Nightlight almost walked on his hand because of his worrying.

Jack rolled his eyes.

"Sul bai em tem Sutæral. Eshá co. Jas shí. (I'm fine Nightlight. don't worry. Chill out_._)"

"_But what if you hurt yourself?! You're of royal blood. The _**last** _of the royal bloods I might add!"_

Jack let out a sigh. "_You're no fun Nightlight. Loosen up."_

He moved back and forth from the precipice, using his well defined arm muscles and muscular fingers to swing himself up to the top of the ledge. To show off he also tried to gain enough speed to do a back flip.

Well he did do a "back flip". If that counts landing on your face and getting dirt in your hair. Nightlight shook himself from his worrying and giggled with the others at Jack's fall.

Jack got up quickly and shook it off, calling for everybody to walk on. He caught up with Nightlight and called him motherly and Nightlight retaliated by calling Jack "keipô".

"_I wasn't that much of a show off!" _

They group laughed, not noticing the stone Jack had accidentally dislodged with his foot had fallen below and stuck itself into one of the vehicle engines down below.

* * *

**Did you guys like the chapter? I know its short but I think I can get them out faster if I make them a bit smaller. That okay with everybody? Cool? **

**I haven't given up on this yet (and I hope I never will)! **

**Enjoy! **


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